CANTON, Ohio (WLIO) — Liberty-Benton's historic season came to an end Friday in the Division V state semifinals with a 5-2 loss to Columbus Academy.

Making the first state tournament appearance in program history, the Eagles battled back from a three-run deficit. Isaac Schworm drove in a run in the fourth inning, while Grady Latta scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to pull Liberty-Benton within 3-2.

Jackson Knepper tossed a complete game for the Eagles, striking out six batters, while catcher Kooper Leatherman threw out a baserunner to help keep the game scoreless early.

Liberty-Benton loaded the bases in the seventh inning and brought the tying run to the plate, but Columbus Academy recorded the final two outs to secure the victory.

The Eagles finish a memorable season as Division V state semifinalists.

"From going from hardly ever being out of districts in regionals for the band, now we've been to the biggest stage. So now our kids got a taste of it a little bit, and we hope we can continue that," said Liberty-Benton head coach Matt Rader. "You know, it's not — we know it's not going to be easy in years, but we've got experience now. We know what it feels like, and hopefully we come back hungry next year," Rader said.

"Don't have a lot of words today. It's gonna hurt for a little bit, but had a lot of support behind us, and we're really proud, and we're gonna build on it," Rader said. "We talked about it after the game, that bar has been set extremely high by our seniors, so we just got to continue to build off that every year," Rader said.

"You know, he always told us all four years I've been in high school to every senior class, just make the program better than how you found it, and I think our class did a good job of that," said Liberty-Benton senior left fielder Reid Irwin. "You know, not the result we wanted in the end, but to make it where we did, that was really exciting, and I hope the young guys can build off of that and maybe go win it someday," Irwin said.

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