State Champs Prediction

IVCguy said:
I watched that game. Strasburg had them. Hiland was down to 6 outs and the Burg pitcher was in control.

He got the first out in the bottom of the 6th, and should have had the next out, but the 1B dropped an easy pop foul. That batter walked and he walked the next batter. Burg coach comes walking out and I was like, "You better not pull him. Let him try to work out of it because he has stymied a great hitting team for 4 straight innings." He pulled him. A single loaded the bases and then Cody Yoder hit a no-doubter over the left-center fence. Ballgame.

Hiland has good, not great, pitching. But they hit the cover off the ball and are sound defensively. I felt their lack of dominant pitching would keep them from repeating, but it seems eventually their hitting shows up and they have explosive innings. They have a decent shot if that continues. FWIW
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They have a pretty easy road to the final four, especially this year. That’s not a good regional at all. I’m actually surprised they were challenged in the district tourney.
 
RollingTrain said:
They have a pretty easy road to the final four, especially this year. That’s not a good regional at all. I’m actually surprised they were challenged in the district tourney.
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Well, it's baseball. Anything can happen in a 1 game scenario - as long as the talent gap isn't massive.

On paper, that Leesburg Fairfield team looks pretty good, but, overall, I agree that the Lancaster region isn't exactly Murderer's Row.
 
IVCguy said:
Well, it's baseball. Anything can happen in a 1 game scenario - as long as the talent gap isn't massive.

On paper, that Leesburg Fairfield team looks pretty good, but, overall, I agree that the Lancaster region isn't exactly Murderer's Row.
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We've got some odd regionals this year IMO. We have one highly competitive regional and three others with clear cut favorites IMO. Since I said this, I'm sure things will get completely jacked up.

Hands down the most competitive is Louisville with Tiffin Calvert, Warren Kennedy, Hillsdale and Lake Center. Any of the four could win it and i'd not be surprised. I still don't get sending Tiffin Calvert that far East but they've done that for 7 of their 8 regional appearances. TC and JFK have been there the last four years, Hillsdale three times and LC now twice in a row. Calvert is still super young - most of their lineup is sophomores (although as freshman they won 30 games) but has veteran pitching (this will be JR Blake Coleman's third regional start). They def. miss the two seniors from last year in the batting lineup. Lake Center has put up big numbers, but was shutout by Hiland in the regular season in their biggest game. I think Hillsdale battles them.

I'd expect Leipsic to come out of NW Ohio. My guess is they meet Ft. Recovery in the final. Again, not an overly strong regional.

Hiland is far and away the favorite in the Lancaster regional. As stated above, anything can happen but I think there's a serious talent and experience gap.

Northmor and Russia are the two best teams there but will meet in the semi-final. I'd still expect Russia to win this one.
 
RollingTrain said:
We've got some odd regionals this year IMO. We have one highly competitive regional and three others with clear cut favorites IMO. Since I said this, I'm sure things will get completely jacked up.

Hands down the most competitive is Louisville with Tiffin Calvert, Warren Kennedy, Hillsdale and Lake Center. Any of the four could win it and i'd not be surprised. I still don't get sending Tiffin Calvert that far East but they've done that for 7 of their 8 regional appearances. TC and JFK have been there the last four years, Hillsdale three times and LC now twice in a row. Calvert is still super young - most of their lineup is sophomores (although as freshman they won 30 games) but has veteran pitching (this will be JR Blake Coleman's third regional start). They def. miss the two seniors from last year in the batting lineup. Lake Center has put up big numbers, but was shutout by Hiland in the regular season in their biggest game. I think Hillsdale battles them.

I'd expect Leipsic to come out of NW Ohio. My guess is they meet Ft. Recovery in the final. Again, not an overly strong regional.

Hiland is far and away the favorite in the Lancaster regional. As stated above, anything can happen but I think there's a serious talent and experience gap.

Northmor and Russia are the two best teams there but will meet in the semi-final. I'd still expect Russia to win this one.
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Like to see a Bradford - Russia regional final. 2 schools about 8 miles apart. What an amazing job former Ft. Loramie coach Bill Sturwold has done (did) at Bradford (turned the culture around, don't know if he is still the coach), coaching, coaching, coaching, it is all about coaching.
 
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Stirred not Shaken said:
Like to see a Bradford - Russia regional final. 2 schools about 8 miles apart. What an amazing job former Ft. Loramie coach Bill Sturwold has done (did) at Bradford (turned the culture around, don't know if he is still the coach), coaching, coaching, coaching, it is all about coaching.
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I think this falls under the “one man’s junk is another’s treasure” category. Bradford certainly has turned it around.
 
IVCguy said:
Well, it's baseball. Anything can happen in a 1 game scenario - as long as the talent gap isn't massive.

On paper, that Leesburg Fairfield team looks pretty good, but, overall, I agree that the Lancaster region isn't exactly Murderer's Row.
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The OHSAA has screwed up the Lancaster regional for the second year in a row by shipping the Central District champ to Region 16, and backfilling the spot with the Northwest district champ that got formed when the NW got its sixth regional entrant.
 
Stirred not Shaken said:
Like to see a Bradford - Russia regional final. 2 schools about 8 miles apart. What an amazing job former Ft. Loramie coach Bill Sturwold has done (did) at Bradford (turned the culture around, don't know if he is still the coach), coaching, coaching, coaching, it is all about coaching.
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He’s not the coach anymore.
 
The Dock said:
The OHSAA has screwed up the Lancaster regional for the second year in a row by shipping the Central District champ to Region 16, and backfilling the spot with the Northwest district champ that got formed when the NW got its sixth regional entrant.
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Hiland beat RE 13-2 in 5 - and it wasn't that close. One team was very different than the other.

I said Hiland's pitching was good, not dominant, but Coblentz was very good today.

5 balks in that game: 4 by RE and 1 for BH. Don't think I have ever seen that!
 
IVCguy said:
Hiland beat RE 13-2 in 5 - and it wasn't that close. One team was very different than the other.

I said Hiland's pitching was good, not dominant, but Coblentz was very good today.

5 balks in that game: 4 by RE and 1 for BH. Don't think I have ever seen that!
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It will be worse tomorrow, as the other game in the regional had more errors than total runs.
 
#5 Lake Center Christian and #6 Tiffin Calvert both lost in the Division IV regional semifinals yesterday. Had they both won, they would have played each other in the regional finals. #24 Hillsdale beat Lake Center, and Warren JFK beat Tiffin Calvert.
 
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thePITman said:
#5 Lake Center Christian and #6 Tiffin Calvert both lost in the Division IV regional semifinals yesterday. Had they both won, they would have played each other in the regional finals. #24 Hillsdale beat Lake Center, and Warren JFK beat Tiffin Calvert.
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That region was a tossup as I said before....Kennedy/Calvert was as long a game as Hillsdale/LCC was short.

On a side note, I had three games going at the same time last night - Calvert, Alder and Bradley - and those games went 9, 10 and 11 innings. It was a little wild.

Leipsic could be the wild card in Division IV. We'll see.
 
IVCguy said:
You weren't lying. 18 to nada Hiland. Ugh.
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I’m actually curious if the one kid from Fairfield, who was yelling after every single pitch when in the field during the regional semi, brought back the iron lungs for the impending fate today… and if so, at what point did it turn off for good?

Also: I read that Hiland’s yolked SS hit another moon shot. He returned to the scene of the crime, and did it again!
 
The Dock said:
I’m actually curious if the one kid from Fairfield, who was yelling after every single pitch when in the field during the regional semi, brought back the iron lungs for the impending fate today… and if so, at what point did it turn off for good?

Also: I read that Hiland’s yolked SS hit another moon shot. He returned to the scene of the crime, and did it again!
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Lol. Yep!

I listened to the game, so don't have any info on the yeller. Hiland scored every inning and was up 15 after 4. I suspect he went quiet after 1 or 2 innings.
 
RollingTrain said:
That region was a tossup as I said before....Kennedy/Calvert was as long a game as Hillsdale/LCC was short.

On a side note, I had three games going at the same time last night - Calvert, Alder and Bradley - and those games went 9, 10 and 11 innings. It was a little wild.

Leipsic could be the wild card in Division IV. We'll see.
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Well what do I know?

Fort Recovery 5, Leipsic 1
Russia 13, Troy Christian 2

Fort Recovery vs Hillsdale
Russia vs Hiland

Certainly didn’t see two of those teams there, but that’s baseball. I wish Russia/Hiland was in the finals.
 
Coldwater lost to Millbury Lake 6-2 in D3. In a bit of irony Millbury Lake's nickname is the Flyer's and their head coach (Casey Witt) used to coach at the Marion Local Flyers.
 
Final 4 in each division is set. Who we all got to bring home the hardware in each division?


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