Russia’s Brayden Monnin scores on a wild pitch past catcher Camden Koukol in the sixth…one of seven Raider runs to seal a 12-3 win over Troy Christian. (Press Pros Photos by Julie Wright and Sonny Fulks)
Competitive for the first five innings, Russia pulled away at the end to end Troy Christian’s dream, and extend one of their own – a shot at redemption and a second state baseball title in three years.
Cincinnati, OH – In the end, it was a little anti-climactic, actually. A regional championship game tightly contested for the first five innings suddenly became a near run-rule decision when Troy Christian’s pitching ran dry.
And the beneficiary was Russia, the Raiders (27-4), playing for that rare three-peat in consecutive state tournament appearances, and a Division IV baseball title for the second time in three years.
Just as important…a Division IV title while there are only four divisions, the last of the titles that will mean the most, given the OHSAA is going to seven divisions in 2025!
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“I give them credit,” said Troy Christian coach Tony Ferraro. “One inning should not make a season in our case, and if we get a hit here or there the score could have been different. But I want to congratulate Russia. We needed a big hit in the fifth inning and it just didn’t work out. But our kids are improving and they will come back strong next year.”
The one inning he spoke of was the bottom of the sixth, when trailing Russia 5-3, Troy Christian had to go to its bullpen in relief of starter Carson Dyer. And a succession of arms that were all too willing…turned out to be too weak for the moment. The Eagles walked six, hit one, and suffered a single by Russia’s Hayden Quinter that helped push across seven runs and threaten a run-rule finish. Russia would win its third consecutive regional title by a 12-3 score.
Previous to that point, however, it was a ballgame.
Troy Christian’s Jacob Grossnickle sets his sights on the bag with this second inning triple. He later gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead on a wild pitch.
Russia scored two in the second of Dyer, came back with one in the third, and added two more in the fourth…while TC would score a single run in the top of the first off starter Jude Counts, and a pair of runs in the top of the fifth off reliever Ben Rinderle who took over for Counts leading 5-1.
More, Troy Christian left the bases loaded in the fifth when infielder-pitcher Brayden Monnin came on to relieve Rinderle, stopped the bleeding, and pitched the next 2.1 innings of no-run, no-hit baseball to ensure the win.
But oh, the lack of that one important hit!
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“It changed everything,” added Ferraro. “If we can tie or go ahead in that spot it might have been a different game.”
“The momentum was on their side,” said Russia’s Kevin Phlipot. “Looking back, at the time we said that Jude was done right away, and Ben has pitched so well and deserved a chance to pitch [in a regional final]. And he did his job. He got an inning-ending double play ball right at Braylon (Cordonnier), and when is that not going to get turned?”
Wicked hops…Russia’s Zeb Schulze takes one off the eye during Friday’s regional final with Troy Christian.
But in this case the ball took a wicked hop off the not-so-tournament-ready Princeton High School infield and nearly beheaded Cordonnier. Rinderle out, infielder/pitcher Brayden Monnin in, and he would complete the final 2.2 innings to ensure the Raider win.
Russia (27-4) would win the game with 12 runs on 7 hits and committed one error.
TC (11-15) would lose with 3 runs on 5 hits and had no errors.
There was much picture taking, congratulating, and pride for a leg of a journey completed in the Raiders getting back to the Final Four for the third time in as many years, an accomplishment rare in the 96-year history of the tournament. On site, no one really knew about how many teams had actually done it, but only two schools have been there three times consecutively and came away with titles – Cincinnati Elder in 1958, ’59, and ’60, and Newark Catholic in 2002, ’03, and ’04.
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“It doesn’t ever get old,” said senior third baseman Hayden Quinter, who had three hits in the Raiders 2022 title win over Lincolnview. “It’s just as special this year as it was the other two times. The only thing that would make it better is if we win. If we can do what we did in ’22 it would be pretty fun to win it again.”
Hayden Quinter barely gets back to first on an attempted pickoff play.
“It’s a nice feeling, obviously,” added teammate Brayden Monnin. “We’ve had success in the past, and we’ve been put in some good situations. The coaches have prepared us well, it’s been a great time, and it’s a great feeling since we’ve been there the past two seasons. Even winning three regionals in three years is a great achievement, and we’ve made it look like it happens all the time. But I don’t want it to be like it’s not a great accomplishment.”
Kevin Phlipot has been the architect of this success, and takes a lot of pride in the work and effort it takes to get to this point – for a group of kids so special to have done things in four years that few others can claim.
Russia’s Maddox Goubeaux is the last man on the pile following the Raiders’ regional title win.
“I think they’ve won something like 104 baseball games in the past four years,” he said Friday. “But this is not something to take lightly, and when you hear those things mentioned out loud it’s impressive. And they’ve also done it for two years straight in basketball, they’ve won in cross country, they’ve gone to state in golf, and I mean…it’s the same guys. For a group to have achieved such a high level in so many sports is just hard to appreciate.
“They’ve won seven consecutive district titles, and something like 104 ballgames in the past four years? Tell me who’s done that, as well.”
The final leg begins next weekend when they rematch with Berlin Hiland, the reigning Division IV champion who denied Russia in last year’s title game. Hiland lost just five seniors from that team, so the challenge will be significant, of course. The Hawks won their regional championship Friday, 18-0 over Fairfield.
“No one gets there by mistake,” added Phlipot. “So we’re going to have to play better than we played yesterday and today. Some have better pitching, and some have better hitting. Some teams are more complete than us. So I don’t care who we play. We play Berlin and I guess we’ll have a chance to return a favor.
“Let’s just get there. And then we’ll see what happens.”
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