Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Class 2A heavyweight Wilton had its River Valley Conference rival Regina on the ropes late in the Substate 5 final on Wednesday.

Backed into a corner and trailing 4-0 ninth-ranked Regina fought back.

Regina used a seven-run fifth inning to erase a four-run deficit in a 11-7 win over third-ranked Wilton (26-7) at the Solon Nature and Recreation Area.

The win avenged a regular season sweep at the hands of the Beavers and sent Regina to the 2A state tournament for the first time since 2014.

“This is awesome, we came back and we got a good team win tonight,” Regina junior Blake Berns said. “We came out and punched them back.”

The win was the eighth straight for Regina (27-7) which will face No. 2 Treynor (32-4) in the opening round of the 2A state tournament on Monday at 11 a.m. at Principal Park in Des Moines.

It was the second straight season Regina was swept by Wilton in the regular season but upend the Beavers in the postseason.

“It seems to be that you can’t ever beat a team three times and we knew that,” Regina junior Evan Suchomel said. “We came today ready to go.”

It was Wilton that looked ready early on Wednesday.

The Beavers took a 2-0 lead on a two-run single by Kaleb Timmsen in the first inning and led 4-0 after a two-run home run by pitcher Colin McCrabb in the fourth.

Down to its final nine outs, Regina came out swinging in the fifth.

The first four Regina batters in the fourth reached base and came around to score on two-run singles by Ryne Schooley and Hunter Liebermann.

Liebermann tied the game at 4-4 when he drove a 2-0 changeup from McCrabb up the middle for a single.

“I was just looking to hit the ball,” Lieberman said. “I was just trying to get something going, especially being down I just wanted to help us get some momentum going.”

Two batters later Suchomel gave Regina its first lead of the game at 5-4 with a bouncing single up the middle.

“I was just waiting for that one right down the middle,” Suchomel said. “I got it and I was able to make something happen.”

Regina added two more runs when Ryan Schott and Trent Hoogerwerf were each hit by pitches with the bases loaded.

The Regals sent 13 batters to the plate in the seven-run fifth inning, using four hits, three walks and two hit batters to take a 7-4 lead it would never give up.

“Overall it was a really good approach by our guys because it’s 4-0 and the guy is rolling like that it’s not easy to do,” Regina coach Jeff Pacha said. “We weren’t panicked, we weren’t down on each other, there was no quit.”

­Regina landed the knockout blow with four more runs in the sixth, pushing the lead to 11-4.

Ryan Schott had a two-run single in the sixth as six different Regals had a hit and six drove in a run.

“That was probably the most complete game one through nine that we’ve had as far as quality at bats,” Pacha said. “The bottom of our order has gotten better and better and it actually has been the key to our momentum is getting that eight and nine and turning it over to one two and three.”

Liebermann went 3-for-3 with two RBI to pace Regina as the final three batters in the Regina lineup combined to go 5-for-8 with four RBI and five runs.

“Evan (Suchomel) and Nick Brandt are the two most underrated players in the state, that’s for sure” Berns said. “I don’t doubt anyone in our lineup.”

The 11 runs were enough for Ryne Schooley who pitched 5 1/3 innings to earn the win for Regina, allowing seven runs on four hits while striking out seven.

Nick Brandt worked the final 1 2/3 to collect the save.

“They came out attacking and they got up on us early and Schooley did a nice job of competing for us because it would have been easy to give in early,” Pacha said. “We didn’t panic, we’ve been working for this and to understand it’s still 60 feet six inches we just have to put a barrel on it.”

The loss was the first of the season for McCrabb (12-1) who entered with a .87 ERA.

The sophomore right-hander allowed six runs on seven hits while striking out four.

“That’s a really good ballclub there,” Pacha said of Wilton. “It seems to always happen that we meet each other before the state tournament but that is two of the better clubs at our level in the state.”

Regina            000  074  0  –  11  9  5

Wilton             200  203  0  –   7   6  1

W – Ryne Schooley                L – Colin McCrabb

HR – WIL: Colin McCrabb