Friday Sectionals: Fillmore, B-R baseball make returns to Finals as Eagles use sublime defense, pitching by Cahill, Wolverines powered by bats to pick up Semifinal victories

FILLMORE — Knowing that you’re one step away from the Finals can create endless feelings of great animation, and sometimes trepidation. It’s one of those feelings that never goes away, but when you do get that one step closer, those feelings gradually get stronger and more nerve-wracking.

But it’s a feeling that Fillmore head coach Bill Nolan loves to indulge. With the Eagles not having been back to the Finals since 2018, there’s no better time to punch a long-awaited ticket for their return, than now.

With No. 4 C.G. Finney in town, the top-seeds would engage in a fight for their Sectional lives. A fight where the runs, even the hits would come at the rarest of premiums. But when they did, the Eagles made sure they made the absolute most out of the opportunity they were allowed to have.

Fillmore collected just two hits. Brent Zubikowski just happened to have the biggest one.

What was deemed an all-defensive battle coinciding with a pitcher’s duel all game long, Zubikowski grabbed the one hit that stood out from all the rest — a massive RBI single to the outfield to score the game’s lone run to put the Eagles ahead, leaving the rest for Graham Cahill to secure magnificently with his arm, as Fillmore booked their trip to the Class D Finals in their closest and toughest game of the season by a 1-0 count on Friday on the Town Field.

“I’m happy as heck to be back in the Finals. These kids have a lot of talent, and they’ve worked so hard for this moment, to get to the Finals and have a chance to win. It’s going to be fun to see how bad they want this,” Nolan said. “Finney played really well, and Graham just wound up pitching the game of his life to get us to the Finals. It was the best I’ve ever seen him pitch. We played so much better defensively in the last couple of games, and that is really what it will take for us. They wanted to play today, and it was amazing to see how all of this came together today.”

All it took after multiple stands of defense between the Falcons and Eagles was a single hit off the bat of Zubikowski in the bottom of the fourth, as the Fillmore (15-3) junior poked home perhaps his biggest hit of the season at the most opportune time — an RBI single into the outfield to bring home a speedy Alex Ellsworth, who raced around the bases furiously to break the ice.

The Eagles then looked towards their Senior pitcher in Cahill to continue dealing the game of his season. He would go on to hold C.G. Finney to just three hits in their entire tenure at the plate, striking out 11 Falcons batters despite a final attempt in the top of the seventh where the No. 4 seeds jammed the bases full with their biggest threat of the game.

Without hesitation, Cahill shook it off with ease, as he and the defense ended the game by leaving the bags all loaded to send the Fillmore side of the field into a frenzy, capturing their spot in the Class D Finals after the weekend after an incredible defensive battle.

Aside from Zubikowski’s game-winning RBI single, Aiden Wagner would tally the team’s second and final hit off a base hit of his own.

The Eagles will now go for it all on Tuesday in the Class D Finals at a site and time to be determined, where they will face either No. 3 Naples or No. 2 Avoca/Prattsburgh.

The Class D Champion will receive an automatic berth into next weekend’s Far West Regional game in Salamanca against either Clymer/Sherman/Panama or Franklinville of Section VI.

C.G Finney 000 000 0 – 0 3 0

Fillmore 000 100 0 – 1 2 2

FIN – Rouce (LP) (CG, 8K, 2BB), and David Crandall.

FIL – Graham Cahill (WP) (CG, 11K), and Alex Ellsworth.

Class C3 Semifinals

No. 1 Bolivar-Richburg 23, No. 5 Harley Allendale-Columbia 0

BOLIVAR — It’s a stage that the Bolivar-Richburg Wolverines have been familiar with more times than once. In fact, it marks the eighth straight year in recent memory that the No. 1 seeds in Class C3 have made it to at least the Semifinal stage in Sectionals. In other words: a trip to the Finals is a must.

On Friday, despite a slight delay due to the weather, the Wolverines fulfilled their fifth straight trip to the Finals behind an incredible, overwhelming display of power at the plate to punctuate a trip back to the Class C3 Finals behind a 23-run, 18-hit effort that saw them never back against No. 5 Harley Allendale-Columbia at home, winning in a 23-0 rout.

“The kids have had this goal to get back to the Finals since the beginning of the season,” said Wolverines coach Dustin Allen. “We put the bat on the ball, we had some great pitching performances and it all worked together to help us get back there. Now we’ll wait to see who we got on Tuesday, and get ready to defend our title.”

The Wolverines (21-1) were able to garner a fast start in their first at-bats against the Wolves, as they scored a 7-0 lead in the first three innings. While the offense was able to find their groove, the defense was stout, led by magnificent outings by both Trey Buchholz and Wyatt Karnuth on the mound. Buchholz captured the win across five innings of work with eight strikeouts.

Later on, Bolivar-Richburg would break down the wall in the bottom of the sixth, extending their 8-0 lead against Harley Allendale-Columbia permanently with a massive 15-run frame in their final stand of offense. As a result, four different Wolverines recorded at least a pair of hits, with Karnuth leading the way with a perfect 5-for-5 outing with a double, four RBI and four runs scored.

Helping further the cause was Ethan Childs, who went 4-for-5 himself with two additional RBI. Trey Buchholz added in three hits including a triple, two RBI and five runs scored, while Aydin Sisson rounded out with two hits.

Bolivar-Richburg now advances to their fifth consecutive Finals game, which will begin on Tuesday at Houghton College where they will face either No. 3 Caledonia-Mumford or No. 2 Northstar for this year’s title. A first pitch time has yet to be determined.

HAC 000 00 0 0 – 0 3 7

Bolivar-Richburg 313 01(15) X – 23 18 1

HAC – Cai Rogers (LP) (6K, 9BB), Ben Friedberg (6) (3BB), Thomas Riveros (6) (BB), and Alex Sassaman.

B-R – Trey Buchholz (WP) (8K), Wyatt Karnuth (6) (5K, BB), and Aydin Sisson, Ethan Childs (6).