CEDARVILLE – On the heels of winning their first district championship in 31 years, the Newton Indians continued to make history by advancing to their first-ever regional title game, handing Russia a 5-1 defeat in the OHSAA Division VII regional semifinal at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
Senior right-hander Austin Tippie put the Indians on his broad shoulders, throwing a complete game. He scattered six hits, struck out 10, and allowed just one run – a performance that had veteran coach Jordan Kopp beaming.
“Austin commanded the game from the get-go. We had a plan to keep those guys off balance with fastball, change-up, slider. His change-up early on wasn’t great, but his slider was really good. His fastball was 86 to 89 and I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple pitches touched 90 with this heat. He felt really good and was dominant, and I’m so proud of him,” Kopp said after the game.
While the pitching was solid, Newton also knew it was important to get off to a good start offensively. Senior first baseman Rhett Koffer helped get things rolling with a deep line drive to right field, and the speedy senior turned the one-out hit into a triple.
Tippie then helped himself, lining a hit to left field to bring Koffer home for the first run. Catcher Will Bowser drew a walk, and with runners on first and second, Brandon Flory hit a fielder’s choice. Russia got the force at second, but an errant throw on the double-play attempt allowed Tippie to score for a 2-0 lead after a half-inning of play.
Russia looked poised to answer with its leadoff hitter cranking a triple to start the bottom of the first, but Tippie struck out the next two batters and then coaxed a fly ball to centerfielder Garrison Hughes to escape unscathed.
Neither team got anything going in the second, but the Indians added on in the top of the third. Tippie collected his second hit of the day with one out, then stole second. Flory followed with a single to drive him in and push the lead to 3-0.
Newton kept the pressure on in the fourth. Hughes drew a one-out walk and Carson Resides dropped down a bunt to move him up, beating the throw for a bunt single. Hughes was later picked off for the second out, but the Indians still made the inning count.
Cole Alexander drilled a line drive into the right-center gap for a double, bringing Resides home to make it 4-0. Koffer then notched his second hit of the game, driving in Alexander for a 5-0 lead heading to the bottom of the fourth.
With the way Tippie was throwing, that cushion felt even bigger. Russia finally mounted a serious threat in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and a runner aboard, the Raiders put together back-to-back hits to load the bases, but a slow roller back to the mound turned into an easy out at first and ended the inning.
Newton didn’t score in the sixth, and Russia finally broke through in the bottom half. A leadoff walk followed by a double from Goubeaux scored Unverferth to cut the deficit to 5-1.
From there, Tippie slammed the door. A grounder to shortstop Alexander recorded the first out, and Tippie struck out the next two hitters to prevent any further damage.
Newton went down in order in the top of the seventh, leaving Russia one last shot at the senior ace, who was nearing his pitch count. The first out came on a pop-up in foul territory handled by Resides. Tippie then notched his 10th strikeout of the day for the second out, and a grounder to Resides at third – followed by a clean throw across the diamond – sealed the 5-1 regional semifinal win and punched Newton’s ticket to its first regional championship game.
The Indians will take on Delphos St. John’s, which defeated Fort Loramie 8-1 in the other regional semifinal. The regional final is set for Wednesday, June 3, at 5 p.m. back at Cedarville University’s Yellow Jacket Stadium.
While Newton is extremely excited to be advancing, the Indians are far from satisfied.
“You know, it’s the first regional final in school history, but those kids aren’t really satisfied. Our goal tomorrow is to win the game,” Kopp said. “We’re playing with a lot of confidence. Give credit to Russia – they’re a scrappy team, a little different than in years past, but still a really good fundamental team. They’ve knocked us out of the tournament four or five times in the last 10 years since I’ve been here, so I’m really proud of our guys.”
Kopp also praised his battery, the defense behind them, and a steady offensive effort.
“Austin Tippie on the mound was solid with Will Bowser behind the plate catching a really good game. It was one of our cleaner games in the field – when they got runners on, we got outs,” Kopp said. “Offensively we put the ball in play, got some key hits, and we took advantage of some errors. It was just a great game all around for this team.”
Newton leaned on its 6-foot-4, chiseled senior hurler, who will continue his education and baseball career at Thomas More this fall. Tippie, who battled through less-than-ideal circumstances coming in, talked about how good he felt once the game started.
“Today felt really amazing and I felt really great. Funny enough, I was coming in off a cold, so I didn’t know how I’d perform,” Tippie said. “Once I got up on the mound, I felt smooth, consistent and my body was loose. Once I saw my slider and change-up were working, my confidence grew knowing I could put pressure on Russia hitters with our defense doing their job, locking things down behind me.”
Offensively, Koffer’s big triple set the tone, leading to the first run and helping Newton flip the usual script.
“Prior to the game we’re all talking about getting early runs, because our team usually struggles scoring until late in the game,” Koffer said. “So, getting those early runs really helped, and it just got our energy up. As a team we were able to keep adding to our run total and defensively Tippie was in control out there and our defense was able to support him as well.”
The senior reflected on how far this group has come in just one year.
“It feels great to be in this position to play in a regional championship,” Koffer added. “Last year we faced Fayetteville Perry in the district final and lost; it was a long bus ride home. This year we figured we owed them and were dialed for a 9-0 district championship win – and of course it was a lot more fun on the ride back this year.”
For Kopp, the breakthrough district title, regional semifinal win over Russia and now a shot at a regional crown mark a payoff for years of near-misses.
“That was special,” Kopp said of the district championship. “These senior kids, I believe, were freshmen when we lost to Russia in the district final on a walk-off, and they went on to win the state championship. We’ve had our experiences at district, and they haven’t gone our way, but our kids have a lot of confidence in who we are and what we need to do to win and that’s exactly what they did.
“I’m super excited for our kids to experience this, and I told them, anything can happen when you get to regionals,” he continued. “We got the first one, and now we have to come back and play the next day. We’ll be ready. We’ve got a lot of arms, our number two will be ready to go, and as a team we’re excited and ready for the challenge.”
