Carson Repp and Kyle Haag celebrate Berlin’s Regional Title after Haag tossed a complete game shutout of Hilliard Bradley. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Pitcher Kyle Haag authored Berlin’s second masterpiece in as many days and its slick-fielding defense did the rest as the Bears blanked Hilliard Bradley 2-0 in a Division I regional championship game.
Grove City, OH – Not until fall will Olentangy Berlin High School celebrate its sixth birthday – tee-ball age for most players – but the Bears’ talented, driven baseball team has earned the right to skip a few grades.
With a 2-0 shutout of upstart Hilliard Bradley in a Division I regional title game at Grove City High School Friday, Berlin will join the big boys next weekend in the state final four at Akron’s Canal Park. Mind you, the Bears had never advanced past a district semifinal until this spring’s monstrous success.
“We’ve been trying not to get ahead of ourselves during this journey, but now that you mention that we’re going to the state tournament, I’m kind of at a loss of words,” Berlin coach Mike Weaver said.
To a man, each of the bleach-blond players in the Bears’ dugout expected this kind of run – even in a loaded district with the likes of perennial powers Grove City, Olentangy Orange and Olentangy Liberty – and they walked the walk.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Steve Blackledge writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros.
Fourth-ranked in the final state coaches poll, Berlin (27-3) will face unranked Twinsburg (23-6) in a state semifinal at 4 p.m. Friday. Perrysburg (25-7) squares off against seventh-ranked Mason (19-4) at 7 in the other semifinal.
“We’re super confident and we’re all locked in,” Cincinnati-bound senior catcher Parker McDaniels said. “It’s definitely surreal, but coach had high ideals for us and talked us into believing we could do this.”
Although its big bats were largely muted by Bradley starter Ethan Williams and reliever Sam Wendel, Berlin leaned on brilliant pitching and lock-d0wn defense to advance.
Bradley’s Keaton Bowers puts the kibosh on Berlin’s two run inning to make sure they didn’t score another with a perfect tag on Drew Bruner.
After University of Akron-bound Taylor Bednar allowed just two hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk in a 5-0 semifinal shutout of 2023 state runner-up Orange on Thursday, teammate Kyle Haag turned in an equally brilliant performance against the Jaguars. The Lake Erie College signee yielded just one hit and one walk with 10 punch-outs. Bednar is 9-0 and Haag 6-0.
“I felt great from the start,” Haag said. “I couldn’t throw my curveball for a couple days, but I worked it today. I had some confidence issues early in the year because I could only throw my fastball. But Parker helped me through it and, obviously, our defense is great and those guys take care of me.”
Weaver called it Haag’s most consistent outing of the season.
“He was in the zone as much as I’ve seen him,” Weaver said. “When you throw 88-90 on your fastball and have that nasty of a curve, it’s hard to hit him.”
Kyle Haag was superb on the mound, just as Taylor Bednar was the night before in his 5-0 shutout of Olentangy Orange in the Regional semi-final game.
Nick Barkhimer broke up Haag’s no-hitter with a high-chop single over third base to lead off the sixth. After a fielder’s choice sent Barkhimer to second, Logan Minamyer hit a hard smash in the hole that first baseman Ascher Dent somehow caught, then he threw to second to double up Barkhimer, who was running on contact.
“I thought that was through and we were going to score,” Bradley coach Dave Starling said. “Give it up to Dent. He made a great play. That was our only scoring chance of the day. We had a tough day at the plate and the frustration just built. Haag was virtually unhittable. That slider was sick today.”
Weaver called Dent’s snag and throw “the play of the game.”
“Ascher is such a great hitter, his defense is perhaps overlooked,” he said. “He has fantastic fielding ability and arm strength. He put that throw there on a dime.”
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It’s been a tumultuous past week for Dent, who committed to Ohio State last winter as a preferred walk-on but was told by Buckeye coaches last week that the spot no longer is available.
Berlin’s Alejandro Aguilar gets airborne to avoid being hit by a pitch during the Regional Final at Grove City High School.
The Bears got both of their runs in the second inning.
Dent was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. Haag hit a perfectly placed bloop single down the right field line. Maddox Pulliam – who socked two solo homers in the semifinal – delivered again with an RBI double. Haag scored on a ground out to first by Braylen Jehnzen. He had two of the Bears’ five hits.
Berlin will try to become central Ohio’s first big-school state champion since New Albany in 2021, and that team was coached by none other than Starling.
“They’ve got as good of a chance as anybody,” Starling said of Berlin. “They’re just so solid in every aspect of the game and to have two outstanding pitchers like they do gives them a real advantage.”
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