Starting pitcher Jackson Schilling held Badin to two runs on four hits through five innings. “He was absolutely great,” said Trent Dues. “We just didn’t hit.” (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Coach Trent Dues and Vandalia Butler’s tournament frustrations notched another calendar year Thursday in Oxford as the Aviators fell to Hamilton Badin in the Division III regional finals, 5-0.
Oxford, OH – As he climbed the dugout steps to assemble with his team along the third base foul line…seconds after the concluding out of Hamilton Badin’s 5-0 shutout win Friday over Vandalia Butler in the Division III regional final…Butler coach Trent Dues turned to me and said, quietly, “The years are growing shorter.”
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Meaning, that among Miami Valley high school baseball programs, no one has a better record of consistency over the past three decades than does Dues and the Aviators.
It’s just that they have nothing to show for it come OHSAA tournament time – just one appearance in the state Final Four, in 2000, when Butler lost to Talmadge in the semi-final round, 10-4.
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Thursday that frustration continued as the Aviators (25-6) fell to Hamilton Badin (28-3-1) 5-0, Badin advancing to the Final Four in Akron next week hoping to cleanse some of their own tournament frustration, having been to the state tournament twelve times since their last title win in 1996. The Rams previously won in 1991. In all, 16 Final Four appearances, and two titles!
As Dues concedes, you have to be good to get as far as a regional final, and you have to be good and lucky to make it to Akron. As to the good part, you have to pitch, hit, play defense, and play with a sense of timeliness.
The luck part? Staying healthy, of course, and those days when the inexplicable decides to shine upon you.
Koby Dues, son of the coach, gifted shortstop, and an Ohio State commit, led the Aviators with a .500 batting average in 2026.
“Every year it’s been something,” said Dues Thursday to a small group of print media following the game. “Frankly, I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been here now. I don’t know. I just don’t know. Thirteen times and we got out once (2000)? But every year it’s something different, and that’s baseball.
“I mean, this year we kept them (Badin) at bay. We were in the game. We just didn’t hit. So it depends on the year. Every year has been different. And this year we didn’t hit.”
Frustrating?
You might say so, given the Aviators, led by Dues’ son and shortstop, Koby, hit .381 as a team over thirty games prior to Thursday. And Dues, himself (an Ohio State commit), led them with an average of .500 (47 for 94). As a team they ranked second only to Troy (.388) in Miami Valley League team batting average. But yet, when it meant the most on Thursday, they didn’t hit…just 3 for 21 for the game, a .142 average.
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In large part due to the efforts of Badin righthander Caleb Driessen, who pitched a complete-game three-hitter Thursday and struck out nine. Butler had one extra base hit, a double, and never advanced a runner beyond second base.
“I knew after we put up the two-spot in the third inning that the game was over,” said Driessen, a commit to pitch at Miami University next season. “I don’t like to give up a lot of runs.”
Hamilton Badin pitcher Caleb Driessen made the most of his 11th win of the season, pitching the Rams to next week’s OHSAA Final Four.
The two-spot he spoke of came in the third inning off Butler starter Jackson Schilling, an Ohio State recruit for next year…as a catcher. After a leadoff double by left fielder Eli Wolpert, Wolpert scored on an RBI single by shortstop Derek Ogden, who later scored on a sacrifice fly ball to center field by catcher Keegan Sawyer.
To his credit, Schilling rebounded to pitch scoreless baseball into the sixth inning, giving the Aviators more than a chance to dig themselves out of the two-run hole and back into contention.
“He gave us a chance, yes he did,” said Dues.
“He did a great job. He competed, he kept them at bay, and he gave us a chance. But you can’t win games if you don’t score any runs. He did an absolute great job, and defensively we played well. But offensively we didn’t do enough.”
The Aviators had some good swings, and made some good contact off of Driessen, whose defense found a way to run down drives to the alleys in left and right-center field. And as the game progressed, Driessen became more efficient retiring the side twice with less than ten pitches in the inning.
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“Yeah, he was a good pitcher,” Dues said of Driessen. “You just have to find a way. I don’t know what else to tell you. At 2-0 I thought we were hanging in there…had a chance. But then they extended the lead in the sixth and we couldn’t get anything across.”
Baden added three runs over the final two innings, against Schilling and reliever Carson Perry, and when Driessen took the mound for the bottom of the seventh one could sense that he was in his most confident element – strikeout, strikeout, and a cued fly ball to right field for the final out.
For Dues 2026 marks his 32nd year as head coach at Butler, with 621 wins, and a lone trip to the OHSAA Final Four, in 2000. “He does it the right way. Few people I know are more committed to his kids than Trent. He’s a grinder, and he’s class.” – Mark Brunswick, retired coach and fellow Coldwater baseball alum
For Dues it marked 32 years as head coach at Butler, and in the neighborhood of 621 career wins. A product of Coldwater High School, he played for the venerable Lou Brunswick during Brunswick’s run of five OHSAA state titles…Dues a member of the 1987 title team.
“He’s always done it the right way,” says retired coach Mark Brunswick, retired hall of fame coach, son of Lou Brunswick, and long-time coach at Bellefontaine. “Few people I know are more committed to their kids than Trent. He’s a grinder, and he’s class. I guarantee you that in a few days he’ll be back out there involved with baseball and preparing for next year.”
“Is this tough?” Dues was asked, relative to another regional letdown.
“Well, our seniors have been to the regionals three times and have had to walk away like they’re doing today. You want better for them, and hopefully next year will be different.”
As to his own future, Dues is non-committal as to how long, and how much more he will endure. Ottawa Hills coach Chris Hardman has said he’ll coach long enough to see his grandson play. Dues laughs at that notion.
“I won’t say never, but I don’t know about that long. You know, I won a state title at Coldwater my senior year in 1987. My older brother won a title in his senior year, and my younger brother won a title in his senior year. This makes 32 years now, and I thought this stuff was going to be easy.”
Titles are never easy, as expressed by no less names than Lombardi, LaSorda, Auerbach, and even Yankees manager Casey Stengel, who won seven World Series in a ten-year period and but once admitted, “The better they play the better I manage.”
And every one of them admitted, like Trent Dues…
Every year it’s something different.
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