Hawks overpower The Beast again in West Virginia
The Hiland Hawks 19-U baseball team tamed a whole lot of beastly competition in claiming the championship for a second time at the Beast of the East tournament in West Virginia.
Fresh off a second straight Division IV OHSAA baseball championship, the Hiland Hawks’ baseball team dove right back into the fire in facing plenty of top-quality competition in the annual Beast of the East 19-U Tournament in Weirton, West Virginia, one of the region’s most rugged summer baseball tournaments.
Just like the Hawks did in the state tournament not once but twice, it took some late-inning heroics in the championship game, but Hiland came away with a 5-2 victory over the Titans from Toronto, Canada in the finals on Sunday, July 7.
“This is such a great tournament for us. There’s so much great competition, and many of these teams have college freshman playing for them,” Hiland head coach Chris Dages said.
Dages said the value his program gets from this type of competition simply can’t be underestimated.
“This is next year’s high school team playing together,” Dages said. “Getting to play together throughout the summer builds confidence in players and builds team chemistry, and it’s exciting to be able to see us competing with teams like this. The guys can get a sense of what the possibilities are come next spring.”
Displaying its usual depth on the pitching mound and carrying on its slugging ways it displayed during the school year, Hiland stormed through the tournament with a flawless 9-0 mark to claim the crown.
This marks the second time in a row Hiland has attended and won The Beast.
After getting a couple of early victories, the Hawks defeated the Titans 8-0 to begin the week and duplicated that score in a win over Power Baseball. Then came a pitcher’s duel against a strong Zanesville Post 29 team that resulted in a 1-0 victory that saw two Hiland pitchers toss a no-hitter.
Andre Yoder toed the rubber in that game for the Hawks and twirled a gem during his time. Yoder went 5 1/3 innings, striking out six and doling out three walks, while Caden Coblentz finished off the gem with 1 2/3 innings of two-strikeout, two-walk pitching.
The Hawks got the only run in the game when Danny Hostetler walked and pinch runner Garut Monigold came around to score on Luke Hershberger’s RBI single.
“Once again we have seen our pitching depth pay off, and Andre gave us a great effort,” Dages said.
Hiland then drubbed Milton Elite 11-0, moving into Sunday’s finals games with a spotless 4-0 pool play record.
Once there, Hiland topped Ohio Valley 8-0, then bounced The Renegades 6-0, setting up a rematch with The Titans for all the marbles.
This time around it wasn’t as easy for the Hawks.
With Kaden Kandel on the mound, the Hawks and Titans each plated a single tally in the first, and Hiland fell behind 2-1 in the second inning.
Kandel then settled in nicely and held the Titans in check, but Hiland was struggling at the plate, failing to get anything going.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth that the Hawks were finally able to break through.
With two outs and Logan Yoder on third base, Garut Monigold bounced one to third that was bobbled just for a split second, allowing Monigold to beat the throw to first, with Yoder scoring the tying run.
Smelling blood, Hiland wasn’t done attacking. Keith Hershberger hammered a ball to the wall in right-center to put runners on second and third, and after Caden Coblentz was hit by a pitch, Colin Coblentz came through with a soul-crushing double that cleared the bases and gave Hiland its first lead of the game at 5-2.
Logan Yoder would sail through the final inning to secure the win for the Hawks, giving them the 19-U title.
“The success only helps build excitement, and it makes them want to work that much harder to continue the success,” Dages said.
While almost all summer programs are built around travel teams, Hiland continues to have its players play together throughout the summer, allowing them to build relationships and trust with one another.
Dages said there’s nothing like spending four days in a cabin together with teammates to bring players together.
“It’s just having fun together playing baseball,” Dages said. “We’ve got something great going on with this system, and it’s working. It’s pretty unique.”
This title marks Hiland’s second appearance at The Beast that they’ve taken home the crown, the Hawks having won it all in 2022 while not attending the event last year.
The championship comes on the heels of Hiland also capturing the Great Lakes World Series Challenge in June, making it a giant success of a summer already.