Minford clinches share of SOC III title with 6-4 win over SW

Unfazed, South Webster's Benaiah Andrews came in for South Webster starting pitcher Jacob McGraw and worked the second through sixth innings as if the four-run first-inning eruption never happened.

Andrews, a multi-year starter and All-Ohio honoree, allowed just three hits and two earned runs the rest of the way, with both earned runs coming off of Max Lauder's RBI double over the South Webster defense in the bottom of the third inning of work.

No. 15 seemed to get stronger as the game wore on as well, as Andrews retired the last nine Minford batters in order, finishing his five innings of relief with three straight strikeouts in the sixth.

"Jacob's been great for us all year," McClintic said. "Guys are just not going to have their best stuff every night, and some unfortunate events led to Jacob coming out of the game there early. It was good to have Benaiah available (on Friday). He's still working himself back into form, and he looked like the All-Ohio pitcher of last year as of late — he's dealt with some injuries. Benaiah comes in, and we know that in any situation, we can trust Benaiah. He's a senior that's been in a lot of games, and whether that's starting or as a reliever, he's done it all. He did a great job to put up a lot of quick innings and zeros for us on the scoreboard, and gave us the confidence to really keep battling back. That was a tough spot for him to come into, and he did an awesome job."

After adding in a run to initially cut Minford's lead to a 4-1 tally in the bottom of the third inning on an Easton Large sac fly RBI, South Webster — trailing 6-1 after the two-RBI double by Lauder — did additional damage in the fourth.

Following a leadoff single to right field by catcher Sam Murphy, Brayden Barnard walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Then, with two gone, McClintic came through with a two-RBI single to center field, scoring Brayden Barnard and courtesy runner Jaheim Froe to cut the Minford lead to 6-3 after four complete.

Keeping the pressure on, the Jeeps attempted to turn up the dial further in the top of the sixth. Murphy again got things going after being hit by a pitch, while Brayden Barnard singled back up the middle of the diamond and Hunter Barnard was also hit by a ball, loading the bases with nobody out.

But as they have done throughout the vast majority of the 2026 season, Minford made the plays it needed to.

On a 1-1 count, a groundball to third led to a 5-2 forceout at home plate. This was then followed by the biggest play of the game, where a hard hit baseball by McClintic was fielded on one hop by Lauder at shortstop.

Recognizing the situation and understanding McClintic's speed down the line, Lauder, instead of making the slower flip to second baseman Colt Donahoe, took it upon himself to sprint to the second base bag, then fired to Frazie at first base for the inning-ending double play.

"Max making the double play with the bases loaded was huge," Daniels said. "That was really a big confidence-booster for us. Big credit to Ty Borland and (Minford reliever) Mason Bradley for coming in and shutting them down. They made the pitches when they needed to make them, and we had the fielding behind them that made the plays when they needed to make them as well."

"This is the best lineup we've had one-through-nine," McClintic said. "It never gets to a spot in the order where we feel like we can't get something going, even with two outs and nobody on. We just got productive at-bats all up and down the lineup. We just didn't capitalize on a couple of things early in the game. We had guys on second and third with one out in the inning and couldn't get anybody in. We had bases loaded one time and favorable counts where we had one out. We did a great job working their pitchers. We just weren't able to cash in on those opportunities that we had. We're going to play South Webster baseball, and we're going to do the little things, and if we do the little things, then we're going to win most of the time. We just left a couple of those on the field (on Friday) early on."

Still trailing 6-3 and down to its final out, South Webster attempted to get a two-out rally going as a two-out walk by Jacob McGraw and a passed ball allowed Pierce Kreischer to drive in McGraw with his RBI single to left, cutting the Minford lead to a 6-4 margin. But the offensive production was simply too late as Bradley was able to induce an innocent three-unassisted groundout to end the game following Kreischer's base knock.

"It seems like it's a dogfight every year with South Webster," Daniels said. "You've got to play seven innings against those guys. They're a well-coached team. (Ryan) McClintic's got them playing good baseball year-in and year-out, so it's always a good win when you can beat Webster."

With the victory and at least a share of the SOC III Championship in hand, Minford now turns its focus onto preparing for postseason play. The Falcons will take on Chillicothe Southeastern Monday in Minford, the first of a four-game nonconference stretch with three of those affairs being played at the Red Monster.

"It's great to grab at least a share of the conference title," Daniels said. "That's something we don't take lightly. However, we're out to win every game. The bigger picture is going into the postseason and making a deep tournament run."

As for South Webster (11-7, 4-5 SOC III), its five-game winning streak may have come to an end, but its progression and the high-level situations the Jeeps faced on Friday most certainly did not. South Webster has a chance to get a new streak started Monday when the Jeeps play Logan Elm.

"We've been doing the little things as of late," McClintic said. "This conference is terrific and we enjoy the competition we get from it. I would much rather play a competitive game every night of the week than not play a strong schedule. We look at playing in this league as a blessing. There's a lot of good teams. Pretty much everybody has a chance at making a long tournament run. I love playing games like these. Like I've said before, I wish we could play three or four games against every team in the league, because it's just good baseball."