ENDICOTT – The best season in Oxford baseball history came to an end Saturday.
A run of four straight come-from-behind wins had carried the Blackhawks (21-4) through the sectional play-offs and into the Class C state semifinals at Pete Sylvester Field in Endicott, but Oxford couldn’t find a way to bounce-back against the Keio Academy, who used timely hitting and solid pitching to earn a 10-1 victory and a spot in the state title game.
“We just didn’t have it today,” said Oxford starting pitcher Steve Locke.
It didn’t appear that way at the start of the first, as Locke quickly put down Keio’s one and two hitters on a three-pitch strike-out and a weakly-hit infield fly. But after giving up a walk, wild pitch, and two hits, the Blackhawks found themselves down 2-0 early – a spot they were all-to familiar with in recent games. The Section 4 champs answered accordingly, manufacturing a run with two outs in the bottom-half of the inning off of a Jake Vincent stolen base and an RBI single by clean-up man Ben Burdick. Locke followed it up in the second by retiring the next three Keio batters on just 11 pitches.
From then-on, however, Oxford was unable to hold-off the Unicorns.
Keio broke loose in their next at-bats scoring three runs on four hits. Pitcher Koichiro Tachibana smoked an RBI single to left field and reached third base on a fielding error. Then designated hitter Yoshihiko Igashi launched a high fastball off the left field wall that brought home Tachibana. After advancing to third on another single, Igashi crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
“We had a couple bobbles,” said Oxford head coach Chris Palmer. “They (Keio) hit the ball hard and put it into play. They’re a good team and they showed it.”
The Unicorns had 14 hits altogether. Eight came off Locke, who allowed 6 runs – two unearned – in 4 innings, striking out two and walking four.
“I struggled with my control,” said Locke, who threw three wild pitches, but also appeared dominant at times over the Unicorn hitters. “It’s frustrating as a pitcher when they’re up there getting hit after hit. I was all over the place.”
Nate Sortino took over at the start of the fifth and finished the day for Oxford.
Offensively, the Blackhawk bats were held in check with a steady diet of off-speed pitches and curve balls served-up from Tachibana and relief pitcher Seiya Suzuki.
“The timing of our hits wasn’t always there,” said Burdick, who went 2 for 3 on the day. “That (curve ball) was definitely an issue. We got fooled.”
Oxford’s best chance to rebound came in the fifth, down five runs. With two outs and runners on second and third, left fielder Pat Wade saved two runs and squashed Keio’s threat with a diving catch in shallow left. In the bottom half of the inning, Wade dropped-in a soft line drive and sparked a rally that would eventually load the bases. However, with the bags full Burdick flew out to deep center with two down, ending the flurry. Aside from the fifth, Oxford couldn’t gather any steam against Keio’s pitching duo, scattering six hits over seven innings.
