Minster’s Louis Magoto pitched the Wildcats to the MAC title Wednesday with three-hit shutout over St. Henry. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
In a matchup befitting champions, Minster’s Louis Magoto spun a three-hit shutout Wednesday to earn the Wildcats the 2024 MAC title in baseball over St. Henry.
Minster, OH – As so often happens in the MAC. the baseball title was decided Wednesday afternoon between the last two standing…one-loss teams Minster (18-3) and St. Henry (12-10).
And it doesn’t seem to matter what the sport, the state’s top competitive conference always concludes with some drama…as in a 1-0 Minster win to claim their fifth title (they share it with Versailles) in baseball, and the first in seven years.
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Championships should have drama, and this one was no different. That is, unless you wanted to see offense. Minster pitcher Louis Magoto and St. Henry pitcher Lucas Clune pretty much took care of that. Magoto threw a 3-hit shutout for the win, while Clune gave up one run on just five hits to take the loss.
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“Their kid pitched well, I thought Louis pitched well, and I told him before the game that there’d be one or two innings, like every good high school baseball game, where you have to pitch your way out,” said Minster coach Mike Wiss. “And you know what? They had the bases loaded in the sixth and nobody out and we got out of that sucker.”
In fact, for the fact of just eight hits in the game, both teams had multiple opportunities to score throughout, primarily because of walks – bases on balls. Because while Magoto and Clune pitched well, they combined for ten free passes and a three hit batsmen. That being, there were 21 men on base in a seven-inning high school baseball game, and Magoto and Clune managed to give up just one run.
Opportunities? No question, as St. Henry opened the first inning with a runner on third and one out, and couldn’t get the hit necessary to take the lead.
St. Henry’s Lucas Clune matched Magoto pitch for pitch, allowing just five hits over 6.1 innings.
In the second the Redskins put a pair of men on base with a hit batsman and a Minster error, and again, came up empty as Magoto came up big, striking out the final two outs.
Clune denied Minster in the first on a hit batsman, a stolen base, and a walk, and left them there with a popup to first base for the final out
And in the sixth, he came close to the edge again when Minster had runners on first and second with one out, and struck out the final out.
Magoto, while allowing just three hits, played with fire throughout, walking seven, and hitting a couple of batters. And in the sixth he came dangerously close to disaster, walking the bases loaded with no outs, what Miss had warned him about…and then got out of that mess with a pair of popups that sandwiched a strikeout.
“There were a couple of tough situations, and I was glad to get out of them,” Magoto said afterwards. “And in the sixth I just tried to take it one pitch at a time, and it worked out. Tyler Stueve had a great game, and I couldn’t have done it without his help.”
Actually, Magoto benefited by three remarkable plays – one by third baseman James Niemeyer in the fourth when he had an unassisted double play on a ball hit to left, fielding it and tagging out an advancing runner in one motion…a diving catch by Adam Rindler in right fielder in the sixth, then throwing behind the runner at second to double him off…and Stueve’s unassisted double play on a hard hit ball up the middle off the bat of Devin Delzeith in the seventh. No truer words were ever spoken by a pitcher. I couldn’t have done it without their help!
In seventh Tyler Stueve again came through for Magoto.
Clune, nearing the hundred-pitch mark, retired the leadoff hitter on a routine ground ball to Delzeith at third base. But then he walked Noah Schwieterman, followed by a walk to Connor Schmiesing, and that would be the final batter he would face as coach Mike Gast brought on David Clune to replace him. But Clune walked the first batter he faced to load the bases for Tyler Stueve.
Tyler Stueve puts a swing on the winning hit in the bottom of the seventh.
Stueve took a pitch high…then a pitch outside…and a pitch inside to go 3-0 and a threat of forcing in the winning run with a walk. But Clune gathered himself to throw strike one. Then, he grooved a fastball that locked up Stueve as he stared at it…strike two.
“I should have swung at that pitch,” Stueve said later. “It was right there, but I knew I had another one coming. I was expecting a fastball.”
And Clune came inside with that expected fastball, a tough ball to hit fair as Stueve turned on it, pulling it down the left field line. Balls like that typically hook like a two iron, but this one stayed fair and landed just inside the foul line, driving Schwieterman home from third with the winning run. Stueve admitted that it was one of life’s big moments.
“Definitely one of them,” he smiled. “I’ve grown up here, been in that dugout for fifteen years, and been a part of some pretty cool situations. And there’s definitely more to come.”
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Minster won the title with 1 runs on five hits and had an error.
St. Henry lost a tough one with no runs, just three hits, and no errors.
Afterwards, Mike Wiss knew he had beaten the odds by winning.
Minster’s Tyler Stueve gets mugged and doused after driving in the winning run.
“I had talked with Louis before the game about walks, and walking the leadoff man,” said Wiss. “And usually when you walk the leadoff man [in the sixth] it leads to a score. But we got out of it. It doesn’t happen too often, but it’s so important in today’s game to have that guy on the mound who can get you a strikeout. This was a game that was going to come down to one pitch, or one play, and sometimes that play is a defensive play. You can’t say enough about the Stueve’s double play in the seventh and Rindler’s catch in the sixth.
“We haven’t been swinging the bats well lately, but I can say we had the pitching and the defense to be in every game we played.”
Ohio State’s Bill Mosiello frequently talks about the unexpected in baseball.
“It’s the dumbest game in the world,” he says. “But there’s also nothing it like it for being fulfilling.”
“I always ask our seniors to leave some advice for the next group of Wildcats coming up,” said Wiss. “And they always say that baseball is the greatest game in the world.”
You didn’t need to tell Louie Magoto Wednesday.
“This is the best day of my baseball life,” he said with a broad smile.
And, oh, how he meant that.
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