LORAIN — Vermilion’s magical run came to an end Thursday, but not without one final act from the Sailors.
Down for much of its Division II district semifinal game, Vermilion rallied late before falling 5-4 to Revere at Southview High School. The Sailors trailed by three before coming back to tie it in the sixth inning, only to see the Minutemen score the winning run in the seventh.
The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for Vermilion, which got hot at the right time of the season, before leaving the tournament trail with a 20-8 record. Revere (18-10) moved on to the district title game today at Pipe Yard Stadium against Highland for the right to advance to the regional tournament.
“There is absolutely nothing negative about this game,” said Vermilion head coach Jeff Keck. “We lost a hard-fought game to a good team. We fight back and battle to the end. We had a great season. We peaked at the right time.”
It appeared that the Sailors had peaked a bit too early when Revere led 3-1 after three innings before extending the advantage to 4-1 through the fifth. But that’s when Vermilion made its move.
With Revere starting pitcher Marcus Monte departing with one out and a runner on in the sixth, the Sailors jumped on freshman reliever Ryan Wonders, scoring once on a wild pitch and tying it on a two-run double from Don Greenleaf.
Greenleaf, a junior center fielder, provided much of Vermilion’s offense, producing the only multihit game (3-for-4) and collecting all three of his team’s RBIs. It was Greenleaf’s solo home run to right field with one out in the third that put the Sailors on the scoreboard.
As quickly as the momentum swung toward Vermilion, it swung back to Revere a half inning later.
With Sailor starting pitcher Tim Clark in the dugout after six innings of work, reliever Adam Beach retired the first batter he faced before walking Joe Corfman and balking the Revere senior to second base. An intentional walk followed before John Galbraith’s ground-ball single to left scored the winning run.
Walks also derailed Clark, Vermilion’s No. 1 starter, who struck out four through the first two innings, but walked the first two batters in the third, with both scoring in Revere’s three-run inning.
“It’s part of baseball. It’s something you’ve got to battle through,” said Keck, whose pitchers walked seven, two intentionally. “That’s just the way it is. You can think back on 100 different things we could have done. That’s baseball.”
Revere got a lift from Monte, who allowed just a run on five hits through the first five innings, despite Sailors aboard in all five of them. Vermilion squandered a scoring opportunity in the fifth, advancing runners to second and third on a wild pitch with one out, but losing one of them when Aaron Sooy rounded third too far and was thrown out by Minuteman catcher Dave Flegal.
“Marcus had a tremendous game,” Revere coach Phil Heyn said. “He deserved the win. Unfortunately, he didn’t get it.”
It appeared Clark was en route to emerging from a sticky situation in Revere’s decisive third, when after walking the first two batters and allowing an infield single to load the bases, he got a double-play ball. But Corfman, a University of Toledo recruit, made the junior left-hander pay, lining an RBI single to left, which was followed by a run-scoring double to left-center from Trey Hoffner.
Corfner also provided assistance on the mound, getting the final out of the sixth before pitching a scoreless seventh.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7146 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com    

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