The 2007 Steubenville Post 33 state championship team hated to lose then and still hates to lose.

That was evident Sunday afternoon at Vaccaro Field.

“I thought when we went down in the seventh that there were still three innings left and I don’t think anybody in that dugout wasn’t ready to win,” said Sam Busic. “We thought the whole time we had a chance to win. That just shows you something about the guys on this team and we hope we showed something to the guys in the other dugout.

“That’s how you compete. The game isn’t over until the game is over.”

Longtime Post 33 manager Mark Stacy thought it would be a great idea to have members of the 2007 state championship team go against the 2016 Post 33 team.

“Stevie Davis was poking at me a little bit and I thought it was a great idea, so we scheduled it,” Stacy said.

The 2007 squad had 11 in uniform – Davis, Jeremy Banks, Phil Gilmore, Rocco Auteri, Tim Ohalek, Mickey Bednar, Greg Ashmead, Anthony Gossett, Mike Mort, David Anderson and Busic.

The state champs scored four times in the top of the eighth inning for a 12-10 victory with Busic getting the win.

“They love to play baseball, and they love each other, that’s what this says about the 2007 team,” Stacy said. “This was another opportunity to get together and have fun.

“They were really, really good baseball players. All of them.”

The dugout really had not changed.

“It was the same,” Stacy said. “They were loose. It was more about getting together and remembering all the great times and great wins we had together. But, they wanted to win.

“It’s a special group.”

All dugouts are different, but this dugout was special.

They could really get on each other and be loose 10 seconds later.

They seemed to thrive on tough, close situations and that was never more evident than in the state tournament that season.

Anthony Pierro, now the manager of Post 33, started playing for Steubenville in 2008.

“I was all for this game,” he said. “I thought it was going to be a fun time. I thought we were going to get a lot of fans out and we did. Everyone had a blast and that was the whole point of the game.

“They’re an interesting group of guys, to put it nicely. They’re all good guys. They’re all good athletes and they’re not that old.

“They taught us a good lesson today and hopefully it’s a wake-up call for us for the tournament coming up.

“It shows you have to show up to the park every day ready to play and if you don’t, you’re going to lose.”

The state champs were down 5-0 after one inning to Zanesville in the state title contest.

It slowly chipped away and, down 7-3, scored six unanswered runs, three in the top of the seventh to take the lead.

From the game story, written by Ashley Newman, on the seventh inning:

Steve Davis led off the frame with a single to left field. After a fly ball recorded the first out, Ohalek came through with a run-scoring double, knocking the ball to the center field wall to tie the game at 7-7.

Anthony Gossett reached base on a single and Mort followed with a walk. Aaron Straney came to the plate with runners on first and second base and a chance to give his squad its first lead of the game.

Straney came through with an RBI single that bounced through the middle of the infield, bringing the Post 33 fans to their feet.

Greg Ashmead, who anchored the Steubenville offense with three hits and three RBIs, knocked in Mort with a single to right field.

That team had that attitude and it filtered throughout the dugout.

Led by Stacy and confidant Rick Hazelip, the team dropped the first game of the district tournament to Toronto and came back to win the tournament from the loser’s bracket.

That is not an easy task.

The state champs finished with 14 hits and three errors, compared to 11 and two for the current squad.

Banks, Auteri and Bednar all ripped home runs for the 2007 team.

“That one felt so good. The feeling never changes,” Banks said of his two-run bomb in the top of the first inning. He added a laser single in his next AB. “I got that one on the screws.”

He had the most recent baseball experience, playing two summers ago.

“I’m old. I’m washed up now,” he said. The current squad then pitched around him.

“We wanted to win,” longtime coach Don Morrison said with a laugh.

“It was a little frustrating,” Banks said about seeing few good pitches. “This was a blast. We should do it every year until we get beat.”

Gilmore started and went 5 innings, throwing 118 pitches. He settled down after allowing four runs in the bottom of the first inning, when he stuck out three. He finished with 10 Ks and two walks.

His fastball wouldn’t get a speeding ticket in a school zone.

Typical Gilmore. Although, I think the 10 whiffs just might be a career best.

“He got into a groove,” said Mort, who went all nine behind the dish and was really busy blocking pitches. “It (blocking pitches) doubled when Busic came in for three innings.

“This was great. It was enjoyable just being around these guys again. It was a great time.

“It was a great game. It was a battle. They didn’t blow us out, which most people probably expected.

“I thought we shut them down for the most part. It was good baseball.

“With all the training that we did not do, I did not see this one coming.

“We picked up right where we left off in the dugout. We’re growing up, but we’re not growing old.”

Well, that’s not entirely true as most of the 11 “older” guys more than likely had a hard time rolling out of bed at any time today.

“I would easily say we were a little more tired today than in 2007,” Ohalek said. “We were a little more laid back in the dugout, but, we did not lose our competitive nature. I forgot how much energy it took to be competitive. We were a little more mild than I thought we were going to be.

“Nine years removed, I don’t think anything has really changed. Except, we are a little more tired.

“This was great. I’m glad I played and I hope we do this again sometime before we’re 40.”

Bednar was one of the young ones on that 2007 team and said he really had done nothing with a baseball for the past six years (after graduating high school), until “a little more than a month ago.”

“I couldn’t believe it when it went out,” he said after driving in five runs. “I was either walking to second or I was walking around the bases.

“We hate to lose. Just, look at the group we have.

“We don’t like to give up.”

(Mathison, a Weirton resident, is the sports editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times and can be contacted at mmathison@heraldstaronline.com.)