The Finneytown Wildcats came up with the biggest win of the 2015 season on Friday evening, a dramatic 4-3 walkoff win over the Indian Hill Braves. Luke Steimle drove in the winning run from third base in the bottom of the 7th with a two out single to center. Senior Michael Whitt threw a scoreless inning of relief to notch the victory while also scoring the game winning run.

    The tightly contested game went back and forth through the first four innings with Indian Hill taking leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 until the Wildcats tied things at 3 in the bottom of the 4th. Sophomore Keith Hammond led the way for Indian Hill with a 3 for 4 performance while Michael Whitt continued his hot hitting ways with his 3 for 4 day.

    The Braves scored in the top of the first when freshman cleanup hitter AJ King slammed a two out double to center field, scoring Chandler Harris, who had reached earlier on a walk. In the bottom of the inning, senior Sam Brumett countered with an RBI groundout to knot things up at one.

    In the top of the second, the Braves continued their scoring when Michael Folz reached on a one out error. After a walk and a passed ball, Max Sweeney lifted a long sac fly to center field, scoring Folz from third. Starting pitcher Joey Gerbus got out of the inning by inducing another fly ball from Seth Brafford.

    In the bottom of the third, the Wildcats would score their second run of the game when Michael Whitt led off the inning with a single. After advancing on a groundout, Whitt came around to score when Byron Famble singled up the middle. On the play, Whitt was held up at third but ended up scoring when centerfielder Nick Heidel fumbled while trying to throw it in.

    The Braves took a 3-2 lead when Sweeney hit his second sacrifice fly of the game, again plating Michael Folz, who had reached on a walk. Michael Whitt, making the start in right field, had a chance in throwing out the runner at home but the ball was unexpectedly cut off, allowing Folz to score easily.

    The Wildcats tied things up for the third time in the bottom of the fourth when Adam Schwegman led off the inning with his second hit by pitch of the day. Austin Cahill followed with a single to center field, putting runners on first and second with no one out. Izaak Cruz, making his first varsity start of the 2015 season, laid down a perfect sacrifice to advance both runners into scoring position. Jordan Girdler followed with a hot shot to the third baseman Max Sweeney. Sweeney scooped the ball on a hop and caught Schwegman off of third base. With Schwegman being thrown out at home, both Cahill and Girdler advanced to third and second respectively. With two outs, Michael Whitt lined the first pitch he saw into left field to tie the game up. However, Girdler was thrown out at the plate for the third out, ending the Wildcats' chance for taking the lead at that point.

    The two teams exchanged zeros until the bottom of the 7th, when the Wildcats came up with the winning rally. After two quick outs, Michael Whitt stepped up to the plate and blasted an 0-1 pitch off the center field fence. On the next pitch, Whitt took third on a ball that barely got away from catcher Michael Folz, catching everyone off guard but advancing him 90 feet closer to home plate. Before the next pitch, Indian Hill elected to bring in Greg Nevins in to pitch to Luke Steimle. On a 1-2 pitch, the senior came through with the biggest hit of the year as he drove a single up the middle to score Whitt from third and give the Wildcats their first walkoff victory of the 2015 season. 

    For the Wildcats, Michael Whitt led the way with his 3 hits while Byron Famble and Steimle eached chipped in with two hits apiece. The Braves were led by Hammond's three hit performance to go along with Brooks Renfro's 2 for 4 day. On the mound, Joey Gerbus turned in another solid performance for the Wildcats, throwing 6 innings and allowing just two earned runs. The sophomore righty has taken over as the team's ace as he's posted a 3.67 ERA in his four starts on the mound. In Michael Whitt's one inning of relief, he picked up the win by allowing just one hit and no runs. For the Braves, Tanner Helms went 6 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits and four runs in the losing effort.

    The Wildcats return to action on Monday at Indian Hill to wrap up the two game series. Michael Whitt will make his second start of the season on the mound with first pitch being set for 4:30 PM.