Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons' Rase Leads Prep Team To Improbable State Title
June 07, 2005 | Men's Basketball
June 7, 2005
Bowling Green, Ohio - One of the most popular and invaluable members of the BGSU men's basketball family is administrative assistant Kyle Rase. A full-time teacher in the Gibsonburg School District, Rase is in his eighth year with the program and oversees film exchange, camps, office mailing and assists with the Junior falcon baseball program.
He began his first season as the head baseball coach at Gibsonburg High School and saw his team win the Division IV state title after beginning the year with a 6-17 record.
The following is an article on the state title game.
Courtesy of the Toledo Blade
By MAUREEN FULTON
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
After receiving its medals on the field at Cooper Stadium yesterday, the Gibsonburg baseball team had to attend to a few matters.
Derek Hetrick called out to an orange-clad crowd for some water. Wes Milleson autographed the back of a T-shirt. Wyatt Kiser and Thom Brinker were two of several Golden Bears who sat in the third-base dugout, absorbing every last moment of jubilation. It was the way any state championship team with a losing record acts.
Just one catch. Gibsonburg is the first.
A team that had lost so many this season walked away with the win everyone wants.
In the Division IV final, Gibsonburg defeated Lancaster Fisher Catholic 6-5, becoming the only team in Ohio history with a record under .500 to win a state baseball title. The Bears were 6-17 in the regular season and finished tied for sixth in the eight-team Suburban Lakes League with a 3-11 league mark.
"I'm in awe," starting pitcher Andy Gruner said. "I can't wait to get back and celebrate."
The Bears (14-17) overcame five errors with a strong day of hitting and durable pitching. None of Fisher Catholic's runs were earned.
"Five errors? I never thought I'd win a state championship with 17 losses, either," Gibsonburg coach Kyle Rase said.
Hetrick, a senior outfielder, broke a 5-all tie in the top of the seventh inning with a single to right center that scored Milleson. Junior Alex Black, who got the complete-game victory in the semifinal Friday, allowed a lone single in the bottom of the inning to clinch it.
Black had thrown 111 pitches Friday but said he was "95 percent." It was the first game in which Gibsonburg used a reliever.
"I really wanted to get in there and throw my heart out," Black said.
Black replaced Gruner in the fifth, the inning after Fisher Catholic (26-8) took a 4-3 lead.
Gibsonburg led first, scoring three runs in the third on a two-RBI double by Gruner and a two-out single by Brinker. But multiple throwing miscues in the infield kept the Bears playing catch-up. The Irish got one run in the third and three more in the fourth to go in front.
In the fifth, a quick single and walk from Gibsonburg made Fisher Catholic coach Nathan Conrad follow suit by bringing in his Friday starter, Tyler Welch. But the Irish made an error that led to two unearned runs for the Bears.
Consecutive Gibsonburg errors in the bottom of the inning helped Fisher Catholic tie the score, but Hetrick finished a bad day at the plate in the best way possible. It's the Bears' first baseball state championship.
"We always knew that everyone looked down on us," Hetrick said. "At the very beginning of the tournament, everybody thought of us as an easy win. It's just amazing that this could ever happen."
Conrad, the Irish coach, repeated several times that yes, anything can happen.
"You throw the records out of there during the tournament," Conrad said. "We knew they were a good team, we saw them play [Friday]. The record wasn't even thought about. It's baseball - any team can beat anybody any day of the week."
Rase said the Bears gained momentum in the sectional finals when it upset Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic, which made the state semifinals last year. The Bears were down 5-1 in the game and came back to win 6-5.
"Too many times, kids listen too much to the people who talk about records," Rase said. "When we upset Fremont St. Joe, people said, 'Oh, it's icing on the cake.' I told the kids, it's not icing on the cake, you can't believe that."
"These kids really believed, it was all because of them."
