Saturday's Carmichael Classic grows to 20 baseball teams
The Carmichael Classic, featuring 20 high school baseball teams, will be played Saturday at Triway and Wooster High Schools and The College of Wooster. It is named in honor of the late Sean Carmichael, the longtime baseball coach at Triway who passed away in 2019.
If you build it, they will come.
Triway coach Justin McDowell didn’t exactly hear “The Voice” like Ray Kinsella did in “Field of Dreams,” but an idea sparked after text messaging with Wooster coach Steve Young to honor the late Sean Carmichael and showcase area high school baseball continues to grow.
The fifth annual Carmichael Classic will feature 20 teams at three locations on Saturday, April 27.
“After Sean’s passing, Steve Young messaged me and said, ‘We need to do something for all of the baseball coaches and teams in Wayne County to honor Sean,” McDowell recalled. “We talked about a scholarship and some games. That is really where everything grew from.”
Sean Carmichael, who passed away in 2019 at age 52, contributed to the community in countless ways. At Triway, he was a three-sport standout, longtime baseball coach and athletic director, transportation supervisor and assistant boys basketball coach. A baseball star at the University of Akron, Carmichael is in the Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame.
“We have an announcement that’s read about Sean, the impact he made and what he stood for before every game,” McDowell said. “I asked (Triway co-athletic director) Pat Honza to write something, which is a hard thing to do because of everything Sean did and meant to Triway, and he did a good job. The whole Carmichael family will be here for it and the announcement of the scholarship winner before the last game.”
Saturday will be a day filled with great baseball action at Triway, Wooster and The College of Wooster, something Carmichael would have surely loved. There will be 10 games played.
At the Titans’ Blaine Carmichael Field, the action will get underway with West Holmes vs. Dalton at 10 a.m., followed by Smithville vs. host Triway at 1:30 p.m. and Hiland vs. Akron Hoban at 5.
At Wooster High School, it will be Loudonville vs. Chippewa at 10, Canal Fulton Northwest vs. Wooster at 1:30 and Medina Buckeye vs. Waynedale at 5.
Getting to play on The College of Wooster’s Art Murray Field will be Tuslaw vs. Hillsdale at 9 a.m., Ravenna Southeast vs. Northwestern at 11:30, Dover vs. Uniontown Lake at 2 and Norwayne vs. Orrville at 5.
“Twenty teams is by far the most teams we’ve had for this,” said McDowell, the Titans’ fourth-year coach, who was an All-American pitcher for The COW. “We 12 teams last year and had eight in 2021 and 2022.
“For the first year, we just did a scholarship because it was during COVID so we couldn't play. So this is the fourth time actually playing games for the Carmichael Classic.”
The field of teams would be tough to top anywhere in the state. Defending state champions Waynedale (Div. III) and Hiland (Div. IV) lead the way, while making regional trips last year were Wooster (Div. I), Hoban (Div. I) and Dalton (Div. IV). Triway, Norwayne and Hillsdale were district finalists, with the Bobcats losing 6-5 to eventual Div. II state champion Kenston.
“About half the field made it pretty darn far last year,” McDowell said. “It's a really good field and great for Wayne County baseball. The cool thing is keeping Sean Carmichael’s memory alive and that everyone wants to be a part of this.”
McDowell has put together some outstanding matchups, starting with the tripleheader on the Titans’ diamond.
“Scott Huth has done a great job of building the program at Dalton and Wyatt (Mellor) has carried on with what Bill Pim did at West Holmes,” McDowell said. “That will be a really good matchup between those two.
“Smithville has some really good ballplayers and we're looking forward to playing them. Obviously, that last game with Hoban coming in with Derek (Carmichael, Sean’s oldest son) as coach to play Hiland is a great matchup. Derek’s done an outstanding job and everyone knows Hiland has a great program.”
McDowell’s Titans got off to a 3-3 start, but he still feels they could wind up being one of his best squads.
“Our team has the potential to be one of the better ones that we've had,” McDowell said. “There are times where we look really good and times where we look inconsistent, but that's what you get sometimes when the weather isn't consistent. We've also been inconsistent and need to improve the mental part of our game when things go wrong.”
The Sean Carmichael scholarship will be announced before the last game. The Carmichael family of Angie, Derek, Parker and Zoe will present the winner of the scholarship before the last game. Last year, $2,500 was given to Triway’s Kade Whitman, who’s now playing for Muskingum. Previous winners were Matt Weaver (Waynedale, 2020), Colton Snyder (Triway, 2021) and Griffin Braun (Triway, 2022).
Last season, Hoban-Waynedale drew around 500 fans and a similar or even larger crowd could be on hand for Hoban-Hiland. The Hoban Knights’ veteran lineup features five Div. I recruits, including Ohio State recruit Andrew Karhoff (1B-P), Wright State recruit Parker Falkenstein (OF) and Vanderbilt recruit Noah LaFine (P).
“Everybody from the coaches, to the administrators, to the umpires, everybody wants to be a part of this,” McDowell said. “With 20 games, we have every single umpire in Wayne County booked.
“It was cool to see Buckeye coach Mike Wolf want to be a part of it with his Hillsdale ties. One of the first things Larry Bellman did after being hired at Northwestern was ask me if his team could get in it. And, it’s cool to see Joey Gilmore, who’s my brother-in-law, take over at Norwayne and a part of this after Blake Bellman did an excellent job as coach. We appreciate (athletic director) Alex Mallue and (baseball coach) Steve Young for letting us use Wooster’s field and we’re thrilled it worked out for us to use The College of Wooster’s field since they’re away this weekend. Thanks to The COW and Jeff Bricker for helping us to schedule games there.”
The Norwayne-Orrville game should be a good one at The COW, with the Bobcats having several college-bound players and the Red Riders led by Kent State recruit Brady Marshall.
TICKETS — Admission will be $5 for all adults and students in one ticket is good for all games all day. Proceeds will go toward the Carmichael Scholarship. Children under the age of eight will get in for free. Each game will be allotted a 2 1/2-hHour window to be played.