Sweet 16s include plenty of local flavor
- col-aaron-dorksen
- May 31, 2024
- 363
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
Memorial Day annually honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.
The holiday also unofficially marks the beginning of the summer … and when the baseball season really gets exciting for high school teams.
If prep teams are still playing after Memorial Day, it means they are having a great tournament run.
This area was represented by five baseball teams in regional tournaments held this week: Wooster in Division I, Norwayne and Waynedale in Div. III, and Hillsdale and Hiland in Div. IV. All the regional semifinal games were slated to be played Thursday, May 30 with the finals on May 31.
The 2023 season stands as the greatest in area history, with Waynedale repeating as the Div. III champion and Hiland winning the Div. IV title while several other teams also advanced to the regional and district levels.
Having five local teams reach the Sweet 16 this year was an outstanding feat in its own right and a testament to how good the coaches and players are.
With the way these teams were playing, one or more of them had great shots at reaching the final four at Canal Park in Akron.
—Generals coach Steve Young has seemingly made all the right moves over the last two years, mixing players from all four grades into his lineups at different times and finding a way to get the team playing its best when it matters most.
With the pitching trio of Brady Bowen, Kyle Oswald and Sam Nielsen and center fielder Hayden Meese leading the way, Wooster had a regional matchup against Twinsburg. Federal league foes Massillon Jackson and North Canton Hoover were paired in the other half of the regional. The Generals were trying for the school’s third state trip, with the others coming in 1998 and 1935.
—Waynedale coach Lucas Daugherty’s team entered the Massillon Regional with two straight state titles and an incredible 17 straight playoff wins. Star pitcher Otto Solorzano was sidelined with an injury, but hurlers Kolten Roeder and Shane Coblentz have really stepped up.
Tate Venables, Cam Miller and Logan Troyer had three hits each in a 17-1 district final win over Columbia. The Bears were slated to face South Range in the regional. Coblentz was masterful in a 2-0 win over Triway in the district semifinals, firing a one-hitter.
—Norwayne advanced to its first regional since 2004 and was matched up against Lake County Perry in the opposite semifinal from Waynedale.
The Bobcats had a great win to beat longtime Div. III power Canton Central Catholic in eight innings in the district semifinals and then run-ruled Manchester 12-2 in the district final. First-year Norwayne coach Joey Gilmore’s team is led by standouts Beau Polen, Mike Steingass, Lucas Dudte, Ashton Snyder and Logan Dichler.
—Hiland seems to make a deep playoff run every year, and 2024 is no exception.
The Hawks advanced to the Lancaster regional under coach Chris Dages as they tried to defend their state title. Hiland senior Cody Yoder’s grand slam led the Hawks to an 8-5 win over Strasburg in the district final.
Hiland was slated to take on Reedsville Eastern in the Lancaster Regional.
—Hillsdale reached the regional for the second time in three years and advanced to play Hartville Lake Center Christian at Louisville.
Lake Center Christian denied Dalton a spot in the regionals by beating the Bulldogs 10-7 in the Struthers District final.
Dalton was led by nine seniors including Seth Wyckoff, who set school pitching records for career wins, strikeouts in a season and career.
Guardians notebook
How about the Cleveland Guardians?
After Cleveland’s 13-7 win over the Colorado Rockies on May 28, the Guardians improved to an American League best 37-18. That record tied the Indians’ 1995, 1954 and 1920 teams for the best starts in franchise history.
If you’re a die-hard Cleveland baseball fan, the years of those other best starts should look significant. Cleveland reached the World Series in each of those seasons.
—Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor and David Frye each homered in the rout of the Rockies. Ramirez is a legitimate MVP candidate. It was good to see Naylor get his stroke back after a slump, and the red-hot Frye has been the team’s most pleasant surprise.
—It’s good to see rookie Kyle Manzardo starting to feel comfortable at the plate. He looked really shaky at first but is now looking like an every day player.
—Bleacher Report and mlb.com each ranked the Guardians third in their power rankings among the league’s 30 teams, behind only the Phillies and Yankees.
—Stephen Vogt was a relative unknown to most Cleveland baseball fans when he was hired to replace legendary manager Tito Francona.
Vogt has urged his hitters to be more aggressive at the plate by swinging for more power, and the results speak for themselves. Francona was known for harping on players to make contact, move the runners up with base hits and hitting behind the runners.
For a Guardians team that most people said wouldn’t have much offensive punch, they led the American League in runs with 282 and were second in the big leagues.
The Guardians were dead last in the majors in homers with 124 last year but also struck out the fewest times.
The Guardians are still making contact at an exceptional rate, with their batters striking out the fourth fewest times in the big leagues. However, the more aggressive approach has led to 63 home runs, which is eighth best in the MLB.
Parting shots
The Ohio State baseball team had its season ended in the Big Ten tournament by Nebraska, who they had upset earlier in the tournament. Ohio State finished the season with a 29-26 record.
Congrats to Buckeyes junior third baseman Tyler Pettorini from Wooster for having an outstanding season. He batted cleanup all season and finished third on the Buckeyes with a .309 batting average and led the team with nine home runs and 49 RBIs. He also ripped nine doubles and three triples.
The MLB Draft will be held July 14-16, and Pettorini has received lots of interest from scouts, with about half the teams watching the Buckeyes play this season. He plans to play again in the Cape Cod Summer League and will be following the draft with lots of interest to see if his name is called.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com.