Division I (Box
Score): Sixth-ranked Cincinnati
Archbishop Moeller captured its fifth state title by knocking off
second-ranked Pickerington North 5-2.
North scored a run in the top
of the first, but the Crusaders (24-5) answered with three tallies
in the bottom half, getting an RBI base hit from junior Tyler
Hutchison, an RBI groundout from senior Eric Smith, and senior Brett
Cisper coming around to score on a passed ball.
Senior Eric Brindle had an RBI
single for North in the fourth to cut it to 3-2. The Crusaders,
though, came back with a run of their own in the fourth, with junior
Ethan McAlpine scoring on an error. Moeller pushed across its final
run in the fifth on Smith�s RBI single.
Brindle, Smith and senior Sage
Iacovone each had two hits to lead Moeller�s offense. Junior Robby
Sunderman worked five innings and yielded just one earned run to
earn the win, while Cisper closed the game with two scoreless frames
to pick up the save.
North, playing in its first
state championship game, finished its season at 30-4, as Brindle and
senior Alex Bayer both went 2-for-3.
Division II (Box
Score): Behind a two-hitter from senior Erik Okleson,
unranked Chardon Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (28-4) defeated
second-ranked Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit 2-1 to claim its second
state title.
Okleson allowed a one-out home
run in the top of the first to senior Joe Pawlowski and a two-out
single in the second, but held the Warriors hitless the rest of the
way. He walked four and struck out six in the complete game victory.
NDCL tied the score at one in
the bottom of the second, with senior Sean Stricker�s single plating
senior Matt Bencic. The Lions pushed across the go-ahead run in the
sixth as Bencic singled home senior Rob Searles with two outs. The
Warriors then put two runners aboard in the seventh, but Okleson
ended it by forcing a groundout and flyout.
Walsh Jesuit, the defending
and four-time state champion, finished with a 25-6 record and as
state runners-up for the first time.
Division III (Box
Score): Gnadenhutten Indian Valley
took advantage of a Hamilton Badin miscue and won its first state
title with a 7-6 victory over the top-ranked Rams in eight innings.
Badin (29-3) tied the score at
six with a run in the sixth inning that eventually forced the game
to extra innings. After the Rams went down in order to start the
eighth, junior Matt Wheeler walked and junior Logan Gray singled,
with Wheeler coming around to score on a throwing error to end it.
The Rams had taken a 4-1 lead
in the third, with the big hit being senior Brett McKinney�s two-run
double. But the Braves responded with four runs of their own in the
bottom of the inning to take their first lead of the game. Indian
Valley (27-2) took advantage of a walk, two errors, a wild pitch and
a passed ball to do its damage.
The Braves scored again in the
fourth on sophomore Logan Cozart�s RBI single, but Badin knotted it
up with junior Scott Purcell�s sacrifice fly in the fifth and senior
Zach Toerner�s RBI double in the sixth.
Junior Adam Mizer pitched the
final 5 2/3 innings for sixth-ranked Indian Valley and gave up one
earned run to earn the win. Gray had three hits and Wheeler reached
base four times, scoring three runs.
For Badin, Corey VanNatta
scored three times, while Toerner, McKinney and Purcell each drove
in two runs. The Rams finished as runners-up for the second straight
year and the third time since 2005.
Division IV (Box
Score): Hamler Patrick Henry
(25-4) succeeded in its title defense by defeating New Middletown
Springtown Local 3-1.
Fifth-ranked Patrick Henry is
the first school since Newark Catholic (2002-04) to repeat as state
baseball champions. Newark Catholic accomplished the feat in
Division IV as well.
The fifth-ranked Patriots
scored twice in the top of the first. Senior Chris Boyer had a
sacrifice fly and senior Tyler Phillips hit an RBI single to put
Patrick Henry on the board.
Springfield (29-5) tallied its
lone run in the second on junior Matt Semach�s sacrifice fly, which
scored senior Bryan Visingardi. Patrick Henry tacked on an insurance
run in the fifth, as senior Brian Kline�s RBI basehit scored senior
Clay Maas.
Kline went the distance on the
mound for the Patriots, yielding just three hits and two walks.
Senior Mitch Leonard had three hits and senior Cody Meyer had two,
and both scored a run as well.
Unranked Springfield was
making its second appearance in the state tournament and finished as
runners-up for the first time. Junior Dylon DeJane had two of the
Tigers� three hits.