Jaguar reliever Diego Contreras celebrates after getting out of a tough inning against Olentangy Liberty. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Just 22nd seeded in the Central District tournament, Hilliard Bradley kept its magical season alive with a 3-2, 11-inning win over Olentangy Liberty in a regional semifinal. Clutch hitting by Alex Koons and shutdown relief pitching by Diego Contreras provided the winning edge.
Grove City, OH – All season long, Hilliard Bradley second-year coach Dave Starling felt the baseball gods owed him a favor.
“With all the close losses we had, I kind of felt like when we got to the tournament, they might start going our way,” he said. “Those things tend to even out.”
Five one-run defeats and three other two-run losses left Bradley with a fourth-place finish in the six-team Ohio Capital Conference Central Division, a 13-15 record and a No. 22 seed entering the Central District tournament.
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After a fourth straight one-run tournament win (including a 1-0 upset of second-seeded Grove City) and fifth overall, the Cinderella Jaguars amazingly are just one step away from the state final four.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Steve Blackledge writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros.
The magic continued Thursday as Alex Koons whacked a two-out RBI double to the right field fence, scoring Logan Minamyer all the way from first in the bottom of the 11th inning to give Bradley a 3-2 win over Olentangy Liberty.
This was a white-knuckler from the third inning on as neither team could manufacture a run until the sun was about to set at Grove City’s diamond.
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Koons’ hit carried just over the head of right fielder AJ Clymer and scooted to the fence. Minamyer never hesitated and scored easily as Liberty’s relay throw was well off the mark.
Bradley’s Logan Minamyer slides headfirst into home to score the winning run after teammate Alex Koons drilled a shot deep down the right field line.
“I’m not going to lie. I wasn’t even looking,” Koons said. “I knew it felt good coming off the bat. I just took off running and when I saw Logan going to third, I knew it must have gotten by him. I knew this one was going to end. It was time to wrap this up before it got dark.”
Left-handed reliever Drew Havenstein had been sharp since entering in relief in the sixth, allowing just two hits with seven strikeouts. But Koons said he was sitting on a fastball and hammered it.
Bradley (18-15) will take on Olentangy Berlin (26-3) for the regional title at 5 p.m. Friday. Both teams celebrated their first-ever district championships last week, and now one of them will be headed to Akron’s Canal Park. Berlin, fourth ranked in the final state coaches poll, blanked 2023 state runner-up Olentangy Orange 5-0 in the matinee.
Bradley’s Alex Koons celebrates with the student section after his walk-off double down the right field line allowed teammate Logan Minamyer to score, ending an 11-inning nail-biter against Liberty at Grove City High School.
Koons hit an RBI-single in the first and Keaton Bowers drove in a run in the third. That’s about all the Jaguars could muster off Liberty starter Brady Bonacci and Havenstein.
Ryan Stickel hit a two-RBI single in the second to account for all of the scoring for Liberty (20-12). The Patriots stranded at least one base runner in each of the first seven innings.
Meanwhile, Minamyer and diminutive southpaw Diego Contreras teamed to stifle Liberty’s big bats. After entering in the eighth, Contreras allowed a bunt single to leadoff hitter Nick Vittorini, then set down the final 12 Patriots’ batters, five on strikeouts.
According to a scout with a radar gun, several of Contreras’ pitches clocked between 60 and 65 mph.
“Diego did such a good job keeping them off balance,” Starling said. “Sometimes, 65 mph works if you spot it. I thought that was the right time to bring Diego in because his style is opposite to that of Minamyer.”
Zach Meyer takes one for the team during a Regional semi-final game at Grove City High School on May 30, 2024.
Contreras, who entered with a 1-2 record and a 1.53 ERA, stayed true to his form.
“I could tell they were getting frustrated by all of my off-speed stuff,” he said. “That’s a fastball hitting team. It was definitely getting tense out there, but we found a way to win again.”
Starling, who was non-renewed by New Albany after winning four straight district titles and a state championship in 2021, did not believe Bradley would reach these heights in just two seasons.
“I knew the kids had that look in the eye but they just didn’t know how to do it,” Starling said. “I knew we could do some things with this senior class, but I surely didn’t think we had the program to the next level yet. The guys have bought in, for sure. I don’t think I’d want to play us right now the way things have been going.”
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