Rollercoaster day ends with Hiland as state champions
Manager Eric Kandel hoists the hardware as the Hiland Hawks enjoy a celebration following their Div. IV state championship victory over defending state champion Russia.
The tide rushed in.
The tide rushed out.
There was a mountaintop experience followed by a devastating trek through the valley.
Emotions were high, then subdued, then dismayed, followed by relief and then sheer elation.
That was the emotional rollercoaster of a day for the Hiland faithful and for the Hiland Hawks baseball team, which captured the program’s second state title with a 14-4 victory over defending Div. IV state champion Russia Saturday, June 10 at Canal Park in Akron.
“This was our goal to win our last game, and we got it done today,” said an elated and emotional head coach Chris Dages.
After plowing out to a 4-0 lead, and with fireballing Will Schlabach in command on the mound, the Hawks' faithful were gearing up for a celebration. In building the early the lead, Alec Weaver led the game off by reaching on an error, stole second and eventually scored on Cody Yoder’s RBI single.
The Hawks tacked on two more in the third. Cody Yoder singled with one out and Nolan Yoder delivered a mammoth triple to right. Colin Coblentz’ double made it 3-0. In the fourth Grady Monigold singled, was sacrificed to second and Weaver’s tweener shallow fly to right was dropped, allowing Monigold to score.
Then came an awkward bottom of the fourth inning where Schlabach couldn’t locate the plate. When reliever Isaak Yoder came on, he was greeted by a series of at bats that saw him need to get a huge bases-loaded strikeout to end the inning with the teams tied at 4-all.
Momentum had hitched a ride with the Raiders.
Hiland’s fans sat quietly, stunned, while the Russia faithful were raucous and could smell another title.
It was at that point that Hiland senior and Div. IV Player of the year Nolan Yoder showed what young men of discipline and nerves of steel are like.
In what was the most important at bat of his high school career, Yoder took all of that positive energy on the Russia side and returned it to Hiland. Yoder crushed a deep drive to center for a double, setting the stage for a 10-4 Hiland lead that buried the Raiders for good.
“I was looking to put a ball in the gap and get something started that would get us going again,” Nolan Yoder said of the at bat. “I don’t care who made it happen, we knew we were going to come back and get after it. It feels really good to get the job done and see us respond the way we did.”
What took place after that hit was a thing of beauty for the Hawks. Collin Coblentz singled to center to move Yoder to third and advanced on a throw home. Isaak Yoder then delivered a monster double to center to return the advantage to Hiland at 6-4. Brady Yoder punched a single to right to put runners on the corners, and after two pop-outs, Connor Beachy drew a walk and Alec Weaver was hit by a pitch, making it 7-4. Hot-hitting Cody Yoder reached on an infield hit to make it 8-4 and with the bases still loaded, up stepped the Player of the Year for the second time in the inning. Nolan Yoder didn’t disappoint, smacking a line-drive single to left to plate two more runs to give the Hawks a 10-4 lead.
“We had 100% confidence that we were going to continue to hit,” Dages said. “We never had a doubt we were going to win this game. Nolan’s at bat was huge. It really charged our guys up again.”
The game wasn’t over, yet it really was, because Isaak Yoder, who had earned the win in relief in the state semifinal extra-inning affair over Tiffin Calvert, was about to get nasty.
“When I was on third base after my double, the Russia fans were chanting ‘Dirtball Yoder’ at me, and I took that personally,” Yoder said. “That’s why I was so fired up to pitch the next inning.”
Yoder was too amped up and walked the first hitter but induced a liner to second that Weaver turned into a double play, and then he went about striking out the third out.
With Russia’s pitching running on fumes, the Hawks continued the offensive onslaught.
Isaak Yoder’s single was followed by Braden Kaufman’s two-out single that scored Yoder. Beachy and Weaver followed up with singles that pushed the lead to 12-4 and an error gave Hiland a 13-4 advantage.
Yoder worked around a hit batter and a walk to get through the sixth, and the Hawks tacked on one more run for good measure.
Then just as he had done in the state semifinal, Isaak Yoder saved his best for last, striking out the side in the seventh to set off a wild Hiland celebration near the mound.
“These guys, especially these seniors, have been working their tails off for four years,” Dages said. “Every winter, every Saturday they were in there working, lifting, hitting pitching: they were in there grinding making sure our younger guys were getting their work in too. We ask a lot from the guys and they’re willing to put in the work, and you see the results here today.
"Ask the seniors if all of those winters and Saturdays and workouts are worth it, and they’ll tell you it is.”
For a team built on its talented pitching staff, on this day it would be the bats that rang true. Hiland banged out 15 hits. Nolan Yoder had three of those hits, scoring three times while also driving home three. Cody Yoder was remarkable from the two-hole, delivering three hits in five quality at bats, scoring a pair of runs. Isaak Yoder, Coblentz and Brady Yoder each added a pair of hits, while Weaver didn’t have a hit but managed to drive in a pair and score twice.
Schlabach wasn’t his usual self, allowing seven walks while striking out five without allowing a hit. Yoder, who tied a state record by picking up both wins at state, finished strong with eight punch-outs in 3-2/3 innings.
The Hawks capped off perhaps the greatest season of Hiland baseball ever, with a season record of 30-1, and a gold medal effort that gave the program its second state title in eight years and sixth overall state appearance.