New Richmond's Lane Flamm delivers a pitch against Western Brown earlier this season. Flamm and the Lions knocked off the Broncos and Batavia to advance to the sectional finals.

By Garth Shanklin

New Richmond's Lane Flamm delivers a pitch against Western Brown earlier this season. Flamm and the Lions knocked off the Broncos and Batavia to advance to the sectional finals.


Sports Editor

The New Richmond Lions baseball team has gotten hot at the perfect time.

Entering the final eight games of the regular season, the Lions sat at 10-6, 3-3 in the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference. The team had four conference games remaining, three of which were to be played at home.

The squad ended the season treading water, so to speak. The Lions lost three of those four conference games, the lone victory being a 6-3 win over Norwood. Losses to Amelia, Western Brown and Goshen were a part of a 4-4 stretch that dropped the team to fifth place in the SBAAC standings at the end of the regular season.

Head coach Brian Benzinger said he believes the team is better than those records would indicate.

“We haven’t had a great year in the regular season,” Benzinger said. “We’re 4-6 and fifth place out of six teams. When I look at our league season, it’s kind of been a disappointment because we’d like to think we’re a little bit better than 4-6 and fifth in the league. I think our tournament run is proving that…The tournament run has kind of let us know that we are a good team, we are a force to be reckoned with and you shouldn’t take us lightly because we can come out and beat you.”

Once postseason play began, it was as if someone flipped a switch. The Lions opened with a home game against Western Brown, a team that had beaten New Richmond twice this season. Benzinger said the team’s second loss in particular to Western Brown was something they had to accept as part of the game.

“The first time we played them, we were ahead in the game,” Benzinger said. “We just had a defensive meltdown that cost us. The second time, they were just hot. They just beat us up a little bit. Sometimes in baseball you run into a hot team.”

The Lions turned the tables on Western Brown in game three, winning 7-1 and eliminating their foe from the postseason.

“It was the case of two teams that were fairly even overall and may the best team win on any given day,” Benzinger said. “We had to play really well that day.”

Senior Nick Laub tossed a complete-game in the victory and did not walk a batter. Pitching has been key for the Lions during their tournament run, as the team has allowed just one run in their two games so far.

Lane Flamm started the second game for the Lions against Batavia. Flamm currently sports a 3.20 ERA, but his 72 strikeouts are good for fourth in the city. Benzinger said his velocity is what allows him to strike batters out, adding that when the sophomore can keep the ball in the zone, he’s tough to hit.

“[Flamm] throws hard,” Benzinger said. “He probably is among the top two or three guys in our league as far as velocity. When he throws strikes consistently, he’s very good, and that’s what happened against Batavia. He threw strikes, worked ahead in the count, and had the hitters off-balance because he was ahead in the count the entire time. They just couldn’t hit him.”

Benzinger also noted the team’s defense played exceptionally well behind Flamm in the victory over the Bulldogs.

“The defense behind him that day was top-notch, for sure,” Benzinger said.

The victory over the Bulldogs sets up a sectional final match for New Richmond against the top seed in the sectional bracket, McNicholas, on May 19 at Milford High School. Benzinger said the Rockets will pose a challenge to his squad.

“They’re good,” Benzinger said. “They’re very good. I’m friends with John Christmann, their coach, and he made a comment that this was their year to make a run at the state. They have a lot of seniors and some very good pitchers. They have at least one player hitting over .500. They’re a very solid team all the way around. I think we’re game to go up there to Milford, play our hearts out and see what happens.”