St. Henry’s Owen Zimmerman crosses the plate with the winning run – with a little hail to the Redskins, up top – in Thursday’s 1-0 thriller over Delphos St. John. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Delphos St. John’s Cam Elwer and St. Henry’s Max Delzeith gave up five hits between them in a throwback to dueling arms, but St. Henry walked it off with a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the seventh to win, 1-0.
St. Henry, OH – It was the best area baseball game to date in 2026.
The way the game is supposed to be played.
Technical Roofing proudly sponsors the Midwest Athletic Conference on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Two pitchers – St. Henry’s Max Delzeith and Delphos St. John’s Cam Elwer – throwing strikes and dueling to see which would blink first.
Scoreless until the very end.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
And as it turned out with games like this, Delzeith and the Redskins were the last man (men) standing as pinch hitter Kale Schwartz came off the bench with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning to poke the first pitch he saw from Elwer into center field, driving in teammate Owen Zimmerman with the winning run. St. Henry survived, happily, with a 1-0 win, its 12th of the season.
“Really a good baseball game,” said St. Henry coach Mike Gast. “I could have done without a couple of errors on plays that we need to make, but that being said Max (Delzeith) battled. Wasn’t as sharp as he’s been, but he battled his way through. They got a couple of guys in scoring position and he just battled his way through it. When it became obvious in the third or fourth inning that we weren’t going to score many runs we told him…you’ve just got to keep pitching. And that’s what he did.”
Your local Kaup Pharmacy proudly supports amateur baseball on Press Pros Magazine.com.
It was anticipated that Elwer and Delzeith would pitch well. That there wouldn’t be many runs scored. And that the game would be competitive – contested. Delphos, coming off its unbeaten season in winning the state basketball tournament, is good in baseball with two-thirds of its roster comprised of players from the basketball team…none more obvious than Cam Elwer.
Elwer was immediately convincing, striking out the side in the bottom of the first, eventually amassing nine for the game
Delphos St. John pitcher Cam Elwer allowed four hits, struck out nine, and was the tough-luck loser for his efforts.
But Delzeith, while not throwing as hard, was equally effective, mixing the fastball with his secondary pitches and pounding the strike zone.
“Elwer is a really good pitcher,” added Gast. “But I felt like we had the arms available to go fifteen innings if we had to.”
Delphos had some early chances, none bigger than the top of the third when Elwer reached base on an infield throwing error, reached second on a succeeding walk, and then with two outs tried to score on a single to right field by his brother, Andrew. St. Henry’s Tate Boeckman came up throwing as Elwer steamed around third, determined to score. But Boeckman’s throw was strong, and true, and Elwer became hung up between third base and home plate, tagged out in a rundown by third baseman Owen Zimmerman.
St. Henry’s Max Delzeith allowed two hits over 6.2 innings, striking out six in Thursday’s win over Delphos St. John.
And in the top of the seventh Delphos again had runners in scoring position with two out and second baseman Tyce McClain at the plate. But McClain grounded out against reliever Hudson Schmitz.
Elwer, who admits that baseball is a close second to basketball in terms of a favorite sport, was visibly tiring as he came out for the bottom of the seventh inning. Sitting on nine strikeouts and close to 90 pitches, his velocity was down from the 86-87 mph with which he struck out the side in the first inning. His command of the breaking ball, as good as you’ll find in Ohio Division VI or VII, was beginning to falter.
“But I like to compete,” he said afterwards, with a smile. “It doesn’t matter what I’m playing. It could be freakin’ checkers, I don’t care. I’m going to try to win.”
Great sports, great food, and a great place to meet with friends. Come to McSobers after the game.
St. Henry’s Owen Zimmerman led off the bottom of the seventh with a line single to center field.
Jake Schwieterman sacrificed him to second base.
EB Real Estate, Darke County’s sales leader, proudly sponsors the best area sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Delphos St. John coach Jerry Jackson intentionally walked Austin Zimmerman to set up the double play.
“Just to play to the percentages,” said Jackson. “We were hoping for a ground ball on the infield.”
And throughout the first six innings, with just two hits off of Elwer, St. Henry, nonetheless, had some good at bats – hit some balls hard, only to have them turned into outs by the Blue Jays’ defense.
“I’ll take my team against anyone,” added Jerry Jackson. “We have a well-versed team that can go out and play small ball and defense. We haven’t played a lot because of the late start, but we’re going to get better.”
With runners on first and second, Austin Kunk then worked a seven-pitch walk to load the bases. And with designated hitter Logan Schmitz due to hit, Gast rolled the dice and sent Kale Schwartz, #55 on your roster, to the plate to hit.
“I was looking first-pitch fastball,” said Schwartz, who hadn’t swung a bat all day. “With three guys on base I figured he wasn’t going to be cute and throw the breaking ball. I went up there to attack the fastball.”
Delphos brought in its infield to cut off the run at the plate. But what they didn’t account for was Schwartz swinging at the first pitch, and a pitch out of the strike zone. Every pinch-hitter takes at least one pitch for comfort’s sake.
Cam Elwer casts a glance at the winning run crossing home plate in Thursday’s 1-0 loss to St. Henry.
But not Kale Schwartz. He swung at a fastball that was head-high, two feet out of strike zone, and topped it back over the pitcher’s mound. Placed perfectly between the shortstop and second baseman, it hopped about five times before it finally reached the outfield, driving in Owen Zimmerman from third with the winning run.
“I was looking fastball, and I just wanted to get it on the ground and into a gap,” grinned Schwartz, post-game, leaning on the rake he was using to smooth out the infield. “They gave me crap for swinging at a bad pitch, but I like those high pitches.”
Kale Schwartz was the epitome of happiness in a high school baseball game. Called on to help his team, he delivered. In a situation where you can’t strike out, he just got the ball on the ground and found a gap.
“Great kid. Great student, and Kale’s not the most athletic kid we have,” smiled Gast. “But he’s worked so hard throughout high school to be ready when he’s called on, and he was ready to battle. And credit Austin’s at bat before him to get on base and set up the situation. Kale just stayed within himself and competed.”
St. Henry won it with 1 run on 4 hits and committed 3 errors.
Delphos St. John lost it with no runs on 2 hits and had 1 error.
A foretaste of what’s to come in the tournament, Division VI and VII – baseball, that is. Leave the checkers at home.
You might have to play Cam Elwer.
Westrich Furniture proudly sponsors MAC sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.