Gabe Schwieterman dives for the plate to score the Redskins second run in the third inning. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
After jumping to a 2-0 lead after three innings, some defensive lapses helped three-time defending champion Berlin Hiland score six runs in the fourth inning in the Division VI state high school baseball seimfinals tournament that ended St. Henry’s sparkling season at 26-4.
Akron, OH — St. Henry knew the assignment would be tougher than an advanced trigonometry test.
Their mission was to defeat Berlin Hiland in the Division VI state high school baseball tournament.
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What’s so tough about that? It is tougher than an overcooked well-done T-bone.
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Berlin Hiland is on a run of three state tournament championships and on a mission to stuff another trinket into its over-populated trophy case.
The Hawks sent a message before arriving Thursday afternoon at Credit Union Park.
They won their two regional games via run-rule, 12-0 and 12-0.
Nevertheless, St. Henry played sound baseball for three innings before the inevitable happened — a six-run fourth inning that led to a 7-2 victory for Berlin Hiland, pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Hawks are on their way to a four-peat.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task going against a three-time defending state champion,” said St. Henry coach Mike Gast, who led the Redskins to a 26-4 season.
“Obviously we knew they are very good,” he added. “We felt like we had a team that could beat ‘em, and I still do.”
For three innings it looked as if St. Henry would live up to Gast’s belief. But Berlin Hiland’s sixth inning left him ah-Gast.
St. Henry grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third on a leadoff single by Tate Boeckman, a successful sacrifice bunt by Drew Langenkamp, a run-scoring double by Jake Schwieterman for one run.
Berlin Hiland pitcher Mike Miller was pretty good….15 strikeouts in a complete game 7-hitter.
The second run scored on Berlin Hiland pitcher Mike Miller’s throwing error, the only misplaced throw/pitch he made all afternoon .
Ah, yes, Mike Miller. That, indeed, was the only mistake he made all day. The tall, thin left-hander struck out 15 and fielded three bunts.
That means he had his mutli-talented left arm in 18 of the 21 outs he needed for a complete game.
But he still trailed, 2-0, entering the fourth inning.
For three innings, St. Henry pitcher Max Delzeith had Berlin Hiland on hold — no runs and one hit, nine of 10 up to the plate and back to the dugout.
His assignment in the fourth was absolutely the most unique situation in baseball annals.
He was tasked with retiring a set of triplets. Gerut Monigold, Grady Monigood and Griffin Monigold. They batted second, third and fourth in Berlin Hiland’s order.
And they batted first, second and third in the fourth inning, a new version of instant replay. Delzeith must have thought the same guy was batting three times in a rows.
It did not go well for Delzeith against the Monigold Triplets.
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Gerut tripled deep into the right field corner. Grady hit a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 2-1. Griffin drove one deep to left, forcing Hudson Schmitz to make a staggering retreat. The ball hit his glove and squirted away for a double.
Now Delzeith had a different assignment. Retire the Yoders. There were three Yoders in the Berlin Hiland lineup. Berlin Hiland is in Holmes County with the largest Amish populatlion in the world.
Max Delzeith was near perfect through the first three innings, holding Hiland’s big bats at bay.
The first Yoder, Jonah, crushed another one over left fielder Schmitz’s head to tie it, 2-2.
Andre Yoder doubled for a run and a 3-2 lead. Pitcher Mike Miller ricocheted one that bounced in and around the right field wall in the corner for a run-scoring trriple and a 4-2 advantage.
That ended Delzeith’s day and Berlin Hiland added two more run to the decisive six-run inning when one of the triplets struck again — a two-run single by Gerut.
“We just asked our players to be tough as nails the entire time from the first pitch to the last pitch,” said Gast. “And they were. They stayed in it.”
Indeed, the Redskins did not slink up or wither up. Even though they were down five runs with two outs and nodody on in the seventh and final inning, Drew Langenkamp and Owen Zimmerman singled.
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But Jake Schwieterman struck outl and the dream of St. Henry winning both a state football championship and state baseball title in the same school year was quashed by Miller and his 15 strikeouts.
Most of the St. Henry baseball players also wore football gear last fall and stopped Marion Local’s 76-game winning streak en route to the state championship.
It was a Triple Crown Day for the triplets:
Gerut — 3 for 4, a run, three RBI.
Grady — 1 for 3, an RBI.
Griffin — 1 for 3 with 15 putouts as the Hawks’ catcher.
After the triplets, the Yoders did damage, too.
Jonah — 1 for 3, a run, an RBI.
Andre — 3 for 3, a run, an RBI.
Logan — 0 for 1, run.
“It was a battle to the very end when we got two singles at the end to try to keeep chipping away, so I’m very proud of ‘em,” said Gast.
Tate Boeckman celebrates scoring for St. Henry in the top of the third inning.
Of his team striking out 15 times, Gash said, “I’m sure that hasn’t happened in years.”
In the end, though, it was three hard-hit, long fly balls that were catchable but difficult and were not caught, that enabled Berlin Hiland to keep a six-run innings progressing like a runaway Santa Fe.
“That’s a really good hitting team and they began finding some barrels,” said Gast, speaking about the Berlin Hiland hits that roared to the outfield as if propelled out of shotgun barrels.
“There were a couple of plays our outfielders probably would like back, but it’s a big, deep park and a long way to run,” he added.
The Redskins, though, made a long, deep season-long run and as Gast said, “We put an entire season together and that’s really hard to do. We were really good for the entire spring, a historically good season for St. Henry, which is really saying something.”
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