SOUTH WEBSTER — They call it "Jeep baseball," and on Thursday night, South Webster put on a masterclass.

Get them on, get them over, get them in. Play clean defense behind your ace. That's the formula head coach Ryan McClintic preaches, and his team executed it to perfection. The Jeeps scored in four of five innings, racked up 11 runs on 12 hits from seven different batters, and rolled to an 11-1, five-inning victory over SOC II champion Northwest.

The win marked South Webster's fifth straight—and it came against a Mohawks squad that knows a thing or two about winning. Northwest entered as co-champs of the SOC II alongside Symmes Valley, sporting a 13-8 record behind a balanced lineup and the formidable one-two pitching punch of Chase Kingrey and Braxton Burris. But on this night, three errors and seven strikeouts kept the Mohawks from ever finding their rhythm.

"We definitely didn't hit the ball well as a team, and some things just didn't go our way," said Northwest head coach Jason Nelson. "I think the mental preparation tonight wasn't what it has been or needs to be. We'll work on that over the next couple of days, come back, and play our ball."

South Webster, ranked No. 12 in Division VII by the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association, wasted no time setting the tone. Leadoff hitter Hunter Barnard went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, starting the game by ripping a shot up the middle, stealing second, and advancing to third on a bunt single from Benaiah Andrews. Brycin McClintic then lifted a sacrifice fly to score Barnard, and the Jeeps weren't done.

With two outs in the first, third baseman Cole Bennett crushed a ball over left fielder Levi Shepherd's head for an RBI double. Jacob McGraw followed with an RBI single through the left side, staking South Webster to a 3-0 lead before the Mohawks even settled in.

"One-through-nine, the guys passed the baton around and kept the line moving," McClintic said. "We had guys fill up the box score with hits and RBIs, but we didn't have any strikeouts either. That's Jeep baseball. Getting bunts down, no strikeouts, quality at-bats, making pitchers work, looking comfortable in uncomfortable counts. That's how we want to play, and that's how we played."

For a team that prides itself on doing the little things right, Thursday was a near-perfect showcase—and a statement that this Jeep squad is hitting its stride at just the right time.