First Baseball State Crown Earned By Powell Olentangy Liberty In Division I State Final Win Over Whitehouse Anthony Wayne
COLUMBUS, Ohio — With an 8-1 victory over No. 8 Whitehouse Anthony Wayne (27-5) in the 2018 OHSAA Division I baseball state championship at Huntington Park on Saturday, No. 2 Powell Olentangy Liberty (30-4) earned its first baseball state title in school history and became just the fourth Ohio high school baseball team in the last five years to finish with a 30-win season.
Olentangy Liberty outscored its opponents by a 21-3 margin in the state tournament in its first trip to Huntington Park in the postseason.
The bats were once again staunch for Olentangy Liberty, which used 11 hits to score eight runs while holding Anthony Wayne to just one run on three hits for the contest.
At the dish, Olentangy Liberty junior Justin Nelson went 3-for-3 and tallied three RBIs with a triple. Senior Connor Osmond and junior Mitchell Okuley each finished with two hits, while senior Corey Mayer recorded three RBIs. On the mound, junior Jack Metzger pitched a complete game, surrendering just three hits without allowing an earned run.
Olentangy Liberty scored all eight of its runs in the first, third and fifth innings. In the bottom of the first with the bases loaded, Mayer hit a double to right center that scored sophomore Corbin Parrish, sophomore Brennan Rowe and senior Carson Comer to put Olentangy Liberty ahead 3-0.
In the bottom of the third with a 3-1 lead, Nelson tripled to left center to score Osmond and sophomore AJ Rausch to increase the Olentangy Liberty advantage to 5-1. Okuley singled up the middle to score junior Justin Nelson, and a double steal later in the inning allowed Okuley to score and make it 7-1 Olentangy Liberty.
Another run in the fifth increased the lead to 8-1 for Olentangy Liberty, and Metzger finished the complete game to earn the victory.
Anthony Wayne was making its first state tournament and state final appearance.