Griffins Take Down Calhoun For Second Straight Sectional Title

GREENVILLE – The Griffins have been cruising through these playoffs.

The Father McGivney Catholic High School baseball team earned a No. 1 seed in the Greenville University Sectional and breezed by Bunker Hill (15-0) and Carrollton (12-0) to win the Metro-East Lutheran Regional.

They then beat Christ Our Rock Lutheran 17-2 to make it to Saturday’s sectional championship at Greenville University.

That game pitted them against the No. 2-seeded Calhoun Warriors.

The Griffins led 2-0 after the first inning and never looked back, going on to win 12-2, securing the program’s second straight sectional title and third overall.

“It’s tough to do this,” McGivney head coach Chris Erwin said. “You get here, and you get late [in the season], and everybody’s got good pitching, good hitting, and we had to put good games together to get here. But I know they’re hungry, I know they want to get back to this to prove they can get to the state tournament.”

And they’ll have a little extra motivation going into Monday’s super-sectional game.

The Griffins will play Jacksonville Routt Catholic (24-12) at Lincoln Land Community College at 4 p.m., a rematch of last year’s super-sectional.

The Rockets ended McGivney’s season, winning that game 4-1. Routt would finish third at state, losing to the eventual winners, Ottawa Marquette, in the semifinals.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Erwin said. “That’s the bitter taste that we’ve had for a little over a year now. I think that we’re excited to get back there, we’re excited because as I’ve said before, all the teams now are really, really good.”

He’s glad that his team has another shot at the Rockets.

“Getting there is the most important part; who you play, you really don’t control,” Erwin said. “But it’s nice. It’s going to be even sweeter. They sent us home last year, and we want to return the favor.”

But on Saturday, McGivney sent Calhoun home.

Kannon Kamp started on the mound for the Griffins and got out of the first inning, throwing only seven pitches, getting three straight groundouts.

The Griffins then got their bats going. Kamp and Omar Avalos led things off with back-to-back singles. Kamp was called out for interference, but Avalos moved to second after a baulk from Calhoun starter Jacob Kress. Then Drew Kleinheider and Justin Terhaar were both walked to load the bases.

That brought up Isaac Wendler, who singled down the third base line to bring in the game’s first run. Mason Holmes followed suit with another RBI single to make it 2-0.

That was the end of the day for Kress, who was replaced by Jack Zipprich. He got out of the jam via a double play.

Kamp continued to deal, going three-up, three-down in the top of the second. The Griffins added four more runs in the bottom.

Scott Phelps led things off with a single before Ty Etcheson struck out. Kamp then singled, and so did Avalos to bring in courtesy runner David Carrol. Kleinheider then hit a two-run triple, followed by an RBI single from Terhaar to go up 6-0.

Calhoun strung some hits together in the top of the third and scored their two runs.

Jack Webster scored on a passed ball, and then Zipprich hit an RBI single that scored Jack Goode to make it 6-2.

Despite that hiccup, Kamp threw a complete game, only giving up one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts.

“He did a great job,” Erwin said of his ace. “Third inning, they were all over his fastball. But outside of that, I thought he was locked in, mixed his pitches really well, and did a great job.”

McGivney came back to score two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, and three more in the sixth to end the game via the 10-run rule.

The Griffins outhit Calhoun 15-3. Zipprich allowed nine of those hits, seven runs, six earned, through 4 1/3 innings. He got his team's only strikeout of the day.

Kleinheider led the Griffins at the plate, going 2-2 with two RBI. Terhaar and Wendler also drove in two runs each.

The Griffins have now won eight straight and outscored their opponents 56-4 during these playoffs.

“We’re just doing our thing and playing our baseball,” Kleinheider said. “Not worrying about the opponent, the conditions, or anything like that. Just going out and controlling what we can control and trying our best every single time we’re out there.”

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