The Hornets had to finish a job they initially started on Wednesday.
Monroe gave up a four-run lead before scoring two in the bottom of the sixth to beat Talawanda 7-6 in the second round of the Division III tournament.
The sixth-seeded Hornets (16-10) have won three of their last four and travel to No. 3 McNicholas on Wednesday, May 28, for a district semifinal.
“I think we’re capable of taking it pretty far,” said Tarin, who went 1-for-2 with three RBIs, two walks and a run. “This is a great team. We like to swing it. We’re all really close. We have this bond. We want to be around each other every single day, so we just want to keep playing.
“It’s about being selfless. That’s the biggest thing. You’ve got to go, ‘We over me.’ On the back of our warmup shirts, we put ‘Family.’ When we do breaks, it’s, ‘3, 2, 1, family.’ That’s the main part of it. We’re all together. It’s not just one individual.”
Talawanda and Monroe have split their last six meetings. The Brave beat the Hornets 6-3 back on April 12.
Both teams traded a run in the first inning before Monroe reeled off a four-run bottom of the fourth, which was highlighted by Tarin’s triple that plated three.
“I come up, bases loaded, and we preach that it’s a team at-bat at that point,” Tarin said. “I’m just going to get my foot down early. I’m just going to try to put one in the outfield just for a sac fly. I got a little bit ahold of it. It went pretty far.
“I thought it might stay up there for a little bit. With the wind up here, it just carried out.”
Talawanda’s first five batters reached base off Monroe junior starting pitcher Dawson Watts, and junior Ty Davie connected on a two-RBI base hit that capped off a five-run sixth inning to give the Brave a 6-5 advantage.
Talawanda sophomore reliever Brody Morris walked Keegan O’Hara, Monroe freshman Mason Reynolds laid down a bunt single and Morris walked Tarin to load the bases to start the bottom of the sixth.
O’Hara scored from third on a Bryce Reynolds sacrifice fly, and Mason Reynolds later scored on a Watts sacrifice fly to give Monroe its 7-6 lead.
The Brave stranded a runner on second in the top of the seventh.
“I challenged our kids tonight. I said, ‘It takes all 18 of us to win this game. I need everyone. Every pitch we have to be better than them,’” Beck said. “They got a little quiet in the fourth and fifth inning, and I had to challenge them and go after them a little bit on what the expectation was.
“They picked it up a notch, obviously. … You feed off that stuff. You’ve got to have it because you’ve got nine guys in a lineup that might not be hitting the best. They might have made a mistake, something. They’re down, you need the other guys to pick them back up, and hats off to our guys for doing that tonight.”
Talawanda was 8-7 at one point this season before losing 12 of its last 13 — which included five shutouts. The Brave finished 9-19.
“It’s like I told the boys, ‘Only seven teams get to end the season with a win in baseball,’” Talawanda coach Matt Lykins said. “It’s tough. It’s tough. You wanted different, but it’s what you get.
“They’ve got a lot of fight in them,” Lykins added. “We’ve had our ups and downs this year, but they have always brought the energy, they’ve always brought the enthusiasm, always wanted to play baseball.”
The Brave graduate 11 seniors in Spencer Lykins, Ryan Wright, Kaiden Woodall, Nathaniel Iden, Micah Daniels, Brady Schutte, Mason Asher, Connor Sayler, Eddie Tanner, Hunter Griffin and Adam Achterman.
“I know I’m going to miss them,” Lykins said. “My son’s one of them, so I’ve known most of them since they were 6 years old. It’s a special team for me in a lot of ways, and it’s one you don’t want to let go.”
Watts threw five innings, gave up five earned runs on five hits and walked five batters. Seniors Drew Heagen and RJ Schwab each pitched a scoreless inning for the Hornets to close it out.
Iden got the nod for Talawanda, giving up three earned runs on just two hits while walking five and striking out five in 3 2/3 innings of work. Morris gave up two earned runs on two hits with two walks in relief.
“There were two good pitchers on the mound throwing tonight,” Beck said. “Iden was going to throw well, and Watts was going to throw well. The weather affected both of them at times. It affected everyone, obviously, with the wet ground and a wet ball.”
Beck said Monroe’s baseball diamond looked like ‘Lake Monroe’ at first base before maintenance began Wednesday morning. He commended those who helped get the field in playable condition.
“That was something else,” the coach added.
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