MaxPreps Nebraska 2015 state baseball tournament rewind

Matt Waldron's dominance on the mound appeared to be more of a sure thing than Omaha Westside winning its third-straight Nebraska Class A state baseball championship last week.

But both events transpired Thursday, following Waldron's no-hit performance during Westside's 1-0 Class A state championship win over Millard South (Omaha).

Waldron was solid all week, but he saved his best for the championship game. It took just 93 pitches for the Nebraska recruit to vanquish the Patriots after he walked three enemy batters and struck out 12. For the tournament, he was 3-0 in 21 innings of work and gave up just two earned runs, while striking out 26 batters to earn MVP honors for the two-class tournament.

Waldron allowed a one-out walk to Millard South's Nate Mallott in the seventh inning and was in danger of seeing the tying run find its way into scoring position for the Patriots, when with two outs Mallott's courtesy runner Logan Lichter stole second. The home plate umpire, however, called batter interference on the play, thus ending the game.

"He's a good ump," Millard South coach Greg Geary told the Omaha World Herald. "It was unfortunate but one play doesn't win or lose a game."

Waldron's twin brother, Mike Waldron, ripped a double to right-center to score Alex Nielsen from first in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring in the only run of the contest. Nielsen reached first earlier in the inning when he was hit by a pitch.

Baseball fans from around the state should be raving about Patriot pitcher Jared Renken's performance as well. Renken's four-hit, one-run outing was the perfect dual mate for Waldron's gem in Nebraska's big school championship game. Renken struck out five Warrior batters and walked just two in the complete game performance that took 106 pitches, 68 of which were strikes.

Millard South was fortunate to be playing in the championship game. The Patriots trailed Lincoln Southwest 9-0 after two innings earlier in the day Thursday. But the Class A runners-up rallied with two runs in the third inning, three more in the fourth, 10 in the fifth and four in the sixth inning to reach the title game with a 19-9 six-inning win.

Colton Busch opened the floodgates in the fifth inning for the Patriots when he belted a pinch-hit, three-run homer to tie the score at nine. In all, 14 Patriots took their turn at bat in the inning, which started when junior right fielder Garran Pauli was hit by a pitch.

"I've seen it before," Lincoln Southwest coach Doug Kaltenberger told the World Herald. "You've got a big lead but you let up a little bit. Then they got the momentum and we couldn't get it back."

Class B
Pius X (Lincoln) 6, Norris (Firth) 3

Through three innings, Norris was holding a 2-0 advantage in Thursday's Class B state championship game. But Pius X, winner of three of the last four Class B state titles, rallied. An RBI single in the fourth inning tied the game at two and then the Thunderbolts went up 5-3 after five innings.

Nolan Hakel and Micah Hoage knocked in runs with singles and Brock Wordekemper brought in another with a squeeze play to put the defending Class B champs up by three runs in the top of the fifth inning. Norris pulled within 5-3 on Terrell Rose's solo shot to lead off the Titans' half of the fifth.

Pius added another run in the top of the sixth and took care of the Titans 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to secure its third title in the last four seasons, winning championships in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Pius lost to Norris 3-2 in the title game in 2013.

Click here to see the MaxPreps Nebraska high school baseball playoff brackets and click here to check out stats from each state tournament game.

Championship Coaches
Class A – Bob Greco, Omaha Westside
Class B – Troy Charf, Lincoln Pius X

All Tournament Team
(Batting Avg., On-Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage)

Pitcher – Michael Hellman, Lincoln Pius X Senior
1-0 9.0 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 0 earned runs, 0 BBs, 12 Ks, 120-81/pitches-strikes

Pitcher – Ethan Ormonde, Norris Junior
1-0 17 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 6 BBs, 2 Ks, 95-53/pitches-strikes

Pitcher – Matt Waldron, Omaha Westside Senior
3-0 21 IP, 12 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 4 BBs, 26 Ks, 305-207/pitches-strikes

Catcher – Nate Mallott, Millard South Senior
7-17, 9 RBIs, 4 BBs, 4 Ks, 8 TBs, (.412 .524 .471)

First Base – Mitchell Hagan, Omaha Westside Junior
6-15, 4 runs, 5 RBIs, 3 BBs, 1 K, 10 TBs, (.400 .500 .667)

Second Base – Jared Jesske, Lincoln Southwest Junior
7-16, 6 runs, 2 RBIs, 1 BB, 4 Ks, 7 TBs, (.438 .471 .438)

Third Base – Dominic Swertzic, Gross Catholic (Omaha) Junior
8-12, 2 runs, 3 RBIs, 1 K, 9 TBs, (.667 .667 .750)

Shortstop – Cole Stobbe, Millard West (Omaha) Junior
5-12, 3 runs, 4 RBIs, 5 BBs, 2 Ks, 12 TBs, (.417 .588 1.000)

Left Field – Isaiah Peterson, Lincoln Southwest Sophomore
4-14, 4 runs, 2 RBIs, 2 BBs, 5 Ks, 6 TBs, (.286 .375 .429)

Center Field – Nolan Hakel, Lincoln Pius X Junior
9-17, 6 runs, 3 RBIs, 1 BB, 9 TBs, (.529 .556 .529)

Right Field – Trevor Ziemba, Platte Valley (Shelton, Neb.) Sophomore
5-7, 3 runs, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 5 TBs, (.714 .750 .714)

Designated Hitter – Dylan Uher, Millard South Junior
7-13, 5 runs, 5 RBIs, 3 BBs, 2 Ks, 10 TBs, (.538 .625 .769)

MVP – Matt Waldron, Omaha Westside Senior

They Said It
"He threw me a slider up and away," Mike Waldron told the Omaha World Herald of his RBI double that gave the Warriors the slimmest of leads in the championship game. "I'm glad I didn't pop it up like I did a couple innings earlier."

"It's tough when you're sitting and watching that first game today," Warrior coach Bob Greco told the World Herald of sitting and waiting for his team to take its turn on the diamond. "But it was nice to know that we had one of the best pitchers in the state going for us."

"It speaks highly of the program and it speaks highly of the seniors who model good leadership," Pius X coach Troy Charf told the Lincoln Journal Star of his program's ability to win three of the last four Class B titles. "The saying about success breeding success, I do believe that. But you also have to have a group that's hungry and still wants it and has to have that edge, and this group definitely did."

"Small ball is something we work on a lot," Pius X's Nolan Hakel told the Journal Star. "We always say it's the little things that mean the most. When we execute those, teams will eventually start making mistakes, and we capitalize on them."

"They were dialed in and driving the ball. They had the momentum and everything was falling into place," Lincoln Southwest coach Doug Kaltenberger told the Lincoln Journal Star after his team's 19-9 loss to Class A runner-up Millard South. "We just ran out of pitchers. That home run hurt. When we played them earlier in the tournament (an 11-4 Southwest win in the second round) we did that to them. They turned around and did it to us."