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COLUMBUS — The Badin baseball team's season ended in disappointing and surprising fashion in the Division III state championship game.

After battering pitcher after pitcher during a 20-game winning streak that saw the team average 9.5 runs a contest, the Rams' potent offense was blanked on three hits Saturday, June 7, as Canton Central Catholic pitcher Taylore Baker ended Badin's run with an 8-0 shutout.

"We just didn't have it today," Rams coach Rick Kunkel said. "Nothing went our way from the opening out to the last out. That's baseball for you. Some days you've got it, some days you don't."

Baker clearly had it. He homered in the second to give the Crusaders (30-4) a 1-0 lead, and he delivered a run-scoring single in their five-run third inning.

But the sophomore right-hander did the majority of his damage from the mound, limiting Badin (26-7) to just one hit through the first six innings.

"We just weren't aggressive today at the plate, and I don't know what it was about that pitcher," Kunkel said. "He wasn't anything special. He's a good pitcher, don't get me wrong. But we've faced good pitchers all year and hit."

"On a 1-to-10 scale, I'd rank him as a 6," added the Rams' Eric Gerbus, who collected two of his team's three hits. Zach Toerner had the other one.

Baker only struck out three, all looking, but he was the epitome of efficiency, needing just 51 pitches to get through the first five innings, and only 81 to finish the game.

"What a masterpiece," Central Catholic coach Doug Miller said. "He was painting the corners and throwing strikes, and then he hits the home run to get us going. And yesterday (in the semifinals), he comes into a one-run game with two on and nobody out and gets the save. What more can you say about the kid?"

In addition to their problems at the plate, the Rams also struggled in the field, misplaying a grounder to kick off Central Catholic's five-run third and committing an error in the fourth that allowed two more runs to score.

"We booted the ball around a few times and didn't make basic plays," Kunkel said. "We didn't do anything well. In no phase of the game were we good today.

"But I'm proud to death of these kids," Kunkel said. "It's not the worst thing that will ever happen to them in their life, but at this particular moment it is. There are setbacks in everybody's life. We've got to learn from it and move on."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.

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