Balich sends Cats to final

Updated: June 4, 2011 8:57PM

JAMESTOWN — This was not a pretty game.

In fact, the Saturday afternoon baseball matchup at the Jimtown Class 2A Regional between Hanover Central and Westview was reminiscent of a really great heavyweight boxing match. The kind where the apparently beaten opponent gets up off the mat and lands a haymaker on the apparent victor. Time and time again. Think Rocky Balboa and you get the picture.

In the end, it was a gigantic three-run dinger by Wildcats senior Mike Balich that sent his team yet one step further into the school history books. Balich’s 11th-inning blast gave his team a 9-5 win over a Westview team that was down to its last out twice and once was 90 feet away from winning it outright.

“We tried about five times to lose it,” Hanover head coach Doug Nelson said. “I don’t know how many times Westview was down to their last strike or last out. This game was a battle of attrition. Everyone was out there fighting in the heat and we made plays when we had to. To be honest with you, this was the worst game we played in a long time. We didn’t make plays, we didn’t execute, we couldn’t lay down bunts. But we gutted it out when we had to. Both teams played their hearts out.”

Balich started the day with 2-run triple that gave his team a 2-0 edge, one they stretched to 3-0 in the fifth inning when Nick Spangler plated Nick Bollenbacher with a 2-out single.

At that point things looked pretty rosey for Nelson’s team. Starting pitcher Andy Wellwerts was breezing along striking out five of the first seven outs and at one point retiring eight straight batters.

But things fell apart in the sixth and seventh when the Warriors scored three runs and had the game-winner on third base.

Hanover Central pushed home two in the ninth but The Wildcats pushed home two runs in the bottom of the inning.

That was when Balich took things into his own hands. His 11th-inning blast took the fight out of the Warriors and sent his team to its first ever regional final.

“That three run home run was huge, obviously,” Nelson said. “Mike has been hitting the ball well and it was about time.”

Eastside scored six runs in the third inning and then held on to advance to the final game with a 7-3 win over Culver (13-14) in the first semifinal contest.

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