SOUTH WHITLEY – “Play like a sectional champion today.”

A sign with that inscription was attached inside the fence of the Whitko dugout throughout the regular season. On Friday night the Wildcats took their first step in accomplishing that goal by claiming a thrilling, bottom of the ninth 4-3 victory over Lakeland in the first round of the IHSAA Sectional 21 Tournament at Whitko High School.

Ethan Nicodemus is greeted at home plate after he tied the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

It took all nine innings for the Wildcats to get their first lead, but it was the only lead they needed and it came in the most unorthodox of ways.

Whitko had the winning run in scoring position after Tanner Gaff hit a one-out double. After a Wildcat strikeout, Drew Bradford stepped into the batters box with the hopes of becoming a hero for his team. Meanwhile, Zach Baughman entered for Gaff as a courtesy runner and would advance to third on a passed ball.

Wildcat head coach Erik Hisner decided to gamble with his last out and sent Baughman home. The move from Baughman prompted a reaction from Lakeland reliever Dylan Pranger who balked. The mental lapse on Pranger’s behalf allowed Baughman to go home and allowed the Wildcats to advance to the semifinals. Yes, Whitko lives to see another day thanks to a balk-off win.

Avery Robbins gets a hit for the Wildcats.

“We ran a balk-steal trying to get the pitcher to flinch and it worked out,” said a very pleased Hisner. “We had nothing to lose, 0-2 count, runner on third. We’ve done some stuff before earlier in the year that probably goes against the grain and it worked out, so, we thought, ‘What the heck?’ and went for it.”

Of course, the dramatic finish could not have happened if it were not for an equally as important moment just two innings earlier.

Seth Patrick stepped up at numerous times throughout the day for Whitko but provided his team with a crucial lead-off single in the bottom of the seventh. Down 3-1, Patrick’s hit got the crowd’s attention, but it was another senior that brought the crowd to its feet. Ethan Nicodemus crushed a home run, scoring himself and Patrick to knot things up at three.

“I just didn’t want my season to be over,” Nicodemus stated after the game. “I’m a senior and I wasn’t ready for it to end like that.

“Seth (Patrick) actually gave us a really good speech before the game today. He talked about defending our home field, sitting back and doing what we do best. We had a lot of guys step up today, some of the younger guys came through for us and, yeah, those last few innings were just crazy. This was definitely a huge momentum boost tonight.”

The Wildcats were all smiles after their big win.

Patrick’s speech apparently got through to his team and he led the way with his play both behind and at the plate. Patrick went 2-3 with an RBI at the plate and made a fantastic play at home by tagging out Lakeland’s Dalton Schmidt in the top of the third inning.

Tanner Hughes had the first run on the day for Whitko. Tanner Gaff picked up the victory for the Wildcats. Gaff was stout through nine innings of work, striking out six batters and allowing just two earned runs.

Pranger and Kyle Casper provided most of the production on offense for the Lakers. Casper scored once and had an RBI while Pranger had two runs scored. Derrick Dunn also had an RBI for the Lakers, Dalton Schmidt was 2-3 and was hit by a pitch.

The victory gives Whitko win number 20 on the season and will put the Wildcats in Saturday’s semifinal game against NorthWood at approximately 1:30 p.m.

Wawasee and Fairfield will play the first semifinal game at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Dalton Schmidt gets tagged out by Seth Patrick in the top of the third inning.