PBR Spotlight game: No. 6 Minster vs. No. 4 Sidney Lehman Catholic

SPRINGFIELD- Defending Division IV state champion Minster is looking for a repeat.

The No. 6 Wildcats dominated No. 4 Sidney Lehman Catholic 9-1 in D-IV regional championship action to advance to Columbus for a Friday 4 p.m. date with No. 2 Tinora.

Lehman Catholic (23-6), which lost to Minster 8-7 in the regional finals a year ago, took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a double by D.J. Hemm, moved up on a fly ball and scored on a wild pitch.

But it was all Minster the rest of the way. The Wildcats tied the game with a run in the third and took over with four in the fourth. Rob Wente had a double and Drew Elson an RBI single for the only hits of an inning that featured two walks, a hit by pitch and a pair of wild pitches as well as a pitching change.

An error in the fifth scored Wente, who had reached on a single, and Minster produced three additional runs in the sixth. A single by Austin Knapke and double by Adam Niemeyer was followed by a two-run single from the bat of Devon Poeppelman. An error, one of four by Lehman Catholic, and single by Ryan Hoying brought home Poeppelman.

Doug Huber, who started and threw four innings to pick up the win a day earlier in the regional semifinals, allowed one run on five hits in five innings, walking two and striking out four to move his season record to 6-2. Knapke threw two innings of no-hit relief to finish out Minster's 24th win in 30 games.