ASHVILLE — Luke Smith already had a pair of RBI singles when he stepped to the plate with two outs in the 12th inning Wednesday. The senior sent a 2-1 pitch into left field to score Westin Woodrum and give his Vikings a Division II district championship with a 5-4 win over Dublin Scioto.
Smith had a two-run single in the first inning to give TV an early lead. He drove in another run in the third for a 3-0 Vikings’ lead.
In the fourth inning, it was Woodrum hitting a sacrifice fly to bring in Tanner Kelley and make it 4-0.
The score stayed that way until the top of the seventh.
The Irish had back-to-back one-out singles, which were followed by three consecutive errors that allowed two runs to score and had the bases loaded. A walk brought in a third run and then a fielder’s choice tied the game.
The score stayed tied until the Vikings broke through in the 12th.
The winning inning got going when Woodrum reached on an error with one out. Trevor Hamilton singled to push Woodrum to second. After a popup to the catcher, Smith came to the plate and got the game-winning hit.
Brody Mann started and pitched six innings of one-hit, scoreless baseball. He struck out five and walked one.
Tyler Mathews pitched a third of an inning, allowing two hits and four unearned runs.
Luke Reese came on and went 4.2 innings, striking out one, walking one and allowing four hits.
Tanner Smith picked up the win by pitching the final inning, striking out one, walking one and giving up one hit.
Along with Luke Smith’s three hits, Trevor Hamilton had three hits and Brody Weiler had two.
The Vikings (20-7) advance to a Division II regional semifinal Tuesday afternoon in Xenia. TV will play the winner of Thursday’s Southwest District divisional championship game between Northmont and Loveland. The game is set to start at 2 p.m. at the Athletes in Action Sports Complex.