Sophomore pitcher Rocco Bucci fires one toward home as the Braves advance with a decisive win over Hilliard Davidson. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
With a 5-1 win over Hilliard Davidson, the fourth-seeded Braves captured their first district crown since 2018.
Lewis Center, OH – As it looked to morph from a below-.500 team a year ago into one of central Ohio’s surprises this spring, the Olentangy baseball team has lived by a few tried-and-true catchphrases.
One of the big ones the fourth-seeded Braves put into practice Thursday against visiting 12th-seeded Hilliard Davidson in a Division I district final involved clutch hitting.
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Another familiar one has to do with having an ace whose command is second to none as the Braves have found in sophomore Rocco Bucci.
By excelling at both, Olentangy wound up with a 5-1 win over the Wildcats and with its first district title in seven years.
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“It’s amazing because this whole season, we’ve faced some adversity but we’ve come through every time,” senior left fielder Cameron Birch said. “From last year being an under-.500 team and this year working hard in the offseason, our chemistry is the biggest thing that’s helped our success. I’m extremely proud of us.
“Championships are won with two-out hits. That’s what our coach preaches, and it’s true.”
Olentangy, which improved to 20-7 and will play Olentangy Berlin on June 3 in a regional semifinal, gave Bucci all the support he needed and more in the early innings.
Birch opened the second with a double off the wall, senior right fielder Dominic Pirrone singled, and Birch scored when junior first baseman Luke Chilicki bounced into a double play.
Carter Hire celebrates a score with teammate Luke Chilicki.
Then in the third, Davidson (13-14) senior Roman Himes retired the first two batters before getting in trouble. Senior shortstop Carter Hire singled and stole second, Bucci and senior first baseman Cooper Tracy walked, and Birch doubled in Hire and Bucci.
Tracy then scored on a wild pitch to give the Braves a 4-0 lead.
“We always talk about how two-out hits win championships,” said Ryan Lucas, who is in his 13th season as Braves’ coach. “(Birch) stepped up and put a big swing on it, and we believe in him. He did what a senior captain is supposed to do. We did a good job of not swinging at bad pitches and not getting ourselves out, and then coming up there with a big hit.”
The Braves tacked on a fifth run in the sixth when senior catcher Kaleb Rice – the No. 8 hitter – walked, stole second, and scored on an error.
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Bucci, meanwhile, sailed through the first 6 2/3 innings, hitting two batters but not allowing a hit.
His no-hit bid ended with two outs in the seventh when junior right fielder Aaron Dryer dropped a single into shallow center field. Senior catcher Julio Goyo doubled to deep right-center to drive in Dryer to make it 5-1, but Bucci struck out senior second baseman Reynaldo Pelaez to seal the win.
Bucci struck out nine for the complete-game win.
Davidson’s Luke Emery connects for a grounder off a Bucci pitch, but gets thrown out by a hardened Braves defense.
“I feel like I was able to attack hitters, get that first-pitch strike, and then as soon as I get that first-pitch strike, I was able to work off that with offspeed and was able to get hitters out with that,” Bucci said. “That last blooper hhit was frustrating, but what means more is that district championship, and we got the job done. Run support definitely helps a pitcher, no matter the environment. I was able to relax, and it helped me out there.
“The team’s invested. We have great chemistry. We all love each other, and that’s why we’re able to do this.”
To reach its first district final under 13th-year coach Justin Swallie, Davidson needed a seven-run sixth inning during an 8-3 win over Delaware Hayes on May 27.
Swallie was proud of the fight he saw again in the district final.
“Our goals at the beginning of the year were to compete for championships,” Swallie said. “Anytime you get to play for a championship, you say that’s a successful year, but you want more. They battled, and you see that at the end. You fight, you battle, you compete, and it pays off. We love this group because of what they did. These seniors left a legacy because of what they did and to get after it for 21 outs.
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“We’ve been in the district semis, but we haven’t been to a district final in a while. We had a lot of seniors and were pretty senior-heavy. We have some young guys who are going to be ready to go for next year.”
Olentangy will face Berlin, which was the district’s third seed and beat No. 10 Gahanna Lincoln 10-2 in a district final, for the fourth time this season. The Bears won two of the three times the programs met during the regular season.
Also in district finals Thursday, top-seeded Olentangy Orange beat No. 15 Pickerington North 5-2, sixth-seeded Grove City defeated 11th-seeded Hilliard Darby 4-1, eighth-seeded Thomas Worthington beat 14th-seeded Newark 6-5, and second-seeded Olentangy Liberty beat 19th-seeded Dublin Jerome 10-0.
Olentangy previously won district titles in 2016 and ’18 under Lucas.
“Rocco has been great for us all year, mixes his pitches, and has just been elite – such a competitor on the mound, and he’s only a sophomore,” Lucas said. “We’re excited to have him on our team and excited for the growth he’s going to make over the next couple years.
“To do this with this group of guys in particular, we’ve gone through the process of trying to win over the last couple years and we’ve gone young the last couple years and figured it out. It’s just really fun to see the buy-in.”
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