PLYMOUTH — Plymouth jumped out to a giant lead over Riverside and then held its breathe all the way up until the time Kevin Becker stepped to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and delivered a two-run single to cement a 16-6 victory over the Knights and a wrap up a Sectional title for Vikings.
Plymouth (23-4), the No. 1 seed from the Four Rivers Conference, came out on fire as it rallied for three runs in each of the first three innings to take a 9-0 lead over Riverside (22-5), the No. 2 seed from the Four Rivers Conference.
The Vikings mashed the ball for a majority of the game as they racked up 14 hits from a lineup that did everything it was supposed to do in a big game. The Plymouth table setters, Chris Rogerson and D.J. Cook combined to score seven runs while the Vikings three-through-five hitters, Zach Sawyer, Ronnell Blount and Mister Davis, combined to go 7-for-10 with nine RBIs. The bottom of the order came through to as the Vikings’ No. 9 hitter belted a solo shot over the left field fence that robbed Riverside of its late-game momentum.
‘It feels great, but as good as it feels I’m just so happy for our kids,’ said Plymouth coach Terry Perry after making it to the East Regional round of the playoffs for the first time in his 13-year career. “They work so hard in practice and they continue to work hard and stay with it. Words can’t describe how proud I am.”
While Riverside stumbled at the start of the game, it quickly regained it’s footing and attacked with a four-run rally in the fifth and added two more runs in the sixth to make it a 10-6 ball game heading into the fatal bottom of the sixth.
“I just want to congratulate Terry Perry and the Vikings. They beat us twice during the regular season and it wasn’t a fluke,” Riverside coach Hank Tice said.
Tice said he was proud of the way his team played this year and hopes it can learn from its playoff experience.
“I don’t think we handled adversity too well tonight but we have to grow from that,” Tice said. “We had a really, really great season but we just had a bad night.”
Sean Holloway got the win for Plymouth as he pitched 4 1/3 innings and let up three hits and four runs. D.J. Cook came in and threw the final 1 2/3 of the game to seal the deal.
Riverside’s Will Gurganus picked up the loss as the Knights also used Mathew Perry and Lucas Gloover.
Plymouth will advance to play a three-game series against the winner of the No. 1 Midway-No. 1 East Columbus game.

Riverside 000 042 — 6 7 3
Plymouth 333 016 — 16 14 2
WP: Sean Halloway; LP: Will Gurganus
Hitting: R — Caleb Whitley 1-4 (2 RBI), Will Gurganus 1-3, Matthew Perry 1-2, Lucas Gloover 1-3, Luke Mathews 1-2, Cameron Price 1-3 (RBI); P —Chris Rogerson 1-2 (4 R), D.J. Cook 1-3 (3 R), Zach Sawyer 2-3 (4 RBI, 3B), Ronnell Blount 2-3 (2RBI, 2B), Mister Davis 3-4 (3 RBI), Kevin Becker 1-4 (3 RBI), Hunter Cook 1-4 (RBI), No. 12 2-4, No. 19 1-4 HR.