Troy’s Jake Reinhardt has pitched the Trojans to their best baseball record in recent years. Troy plays Anderson High School on Thursday. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Area baseball comes to a head with district action and regional matchups on the horizon…and has anyone appreciated enough 1) how tough it is to win 20 games, and 2) quality players overshadowed by how tough it is to play prep baseball at a high level in Ohio?
In Division V the Versailles Tigers are supposed to play Cincinnati Christian later this afternoon in a district final game at National Trail High School.
They may, or they may not…depending on how much of the monsoon that swept through the Miami Valley on Wednesday found Preble County. But don’t let the standing water in the fields deter you as you make your way west on route 40 to get there.
Minster Bank proudly sponsors the best in area sports stories on Press Pros Magazine.com.
That said, the forecast is for sunshine and 78 degrees, but that’s just a forecast…hardly something anyone – players, coaches, fans, or media – would hang their hat on. Welcome to spring sports in Ohio.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
And yet, Versailles coach Bill Sturwold said a lot this week with a minimum of words following his district semi-final win Tuesday over Carlisle.
“You know, we’ve got a chance to win 20 games if we win Thursday,” said Sturwold, with some apprehension for everything that could happen in the next 48 hours. “That’s always been my goal. If you win 20 games you’ve had a pretty good season. And we could win a district title. Not too many people get to do that.”
And not too many people have even noticed. Not just Sturwold and the Tigers…but consider St. Henry, Coldwater, Vandalia Butler, Tippecanoe, and Troy, all with 20-win seasons, already. And this week, when I asked 20 people in the area about high school baseball, records, and the prospects for who might actually win a district, regional, or state title come another two weeks…hardly anyone I asked knew definitively that one, or any, of the five schools listed above was having a GOOD season, much less 20 wins.
“Vandalia usually has a pretty good team,” someone told me at a restaurant in Tipp City.
“Tipp? Is Cahill still the coach?” he asked.
Arcanum’s Regan Christ has pitched the Trojans into serious contention in Division V.
If you haven’t noticed, Bruce Cahill is not the coach at Tipp, anymore. And the Red Devils, despite a couple of early hiccups, are having their own 20-win season, having beaten Vandalia Butler (who ususally has a pretty good team) twice…at least according to Max Preps. Cahill has been gone from Tipp now for five years, and currently is an assistant at Troy.
And speaking of Troy, the Trojans have a sparkling 22-3 record, and are scheduled to play Anderson High School Thursday afternoon, in Troy. Their three losses have come against Butler, Springboro, and Centerville, earlier in the season, and the Trojans are having their best season in memory with players all over the field, and junior starting pitcher Jake Reinhardt on the mound. But have you noticed?
Out West, St. Henry (Division VI) has their own 22-3 record under coach Mike Gast. Coldwater (Division V) has a 20-5 record for coach Cory Klenke, and both of those teams are a threat to again get to the state finals in Akron. St. Henry is supposed to play Colonel Crawford on Friday, and Coldwater has Spencerville later today.
And yet…who knows?
Dave Arbogast is a proud sponsor of area high school sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
It’s true that there’s not as much media attention for spring sports, baseball and softball. There never has been. And it’s true that there’s not as much local media as there once was, to begin with. No Piqua Daily Call, no Troy Daily News, and existing papers still printing are only doing it three or four days a week.
No surprise…St. Henry (Division VI) and Coldwater (Division V) head the list of title contenders from the MAC.
But it’s also hard to keep track when the weather is as on again, off again, as it is in Ohio…and when district finals are played at out-of-the-way places like National Trail, never a school known for its baseball or baseball facilities. But I digress.
But if you wanted to know there’s no shortage of players up and down I-75 that make this weekend’s tournament baseball coverage something to at least ask about.
Troy is well-stocked with players like Aidan Gorman (going to Marshall), Brody Hoke (Ball State), Reinhardt and shortstop Brady, O’Leary, and Colton Akins.
Vandalia has the MVL’s top hitter in Koby Dues (committed to Ohio State), and 9-win pitcher, Tate Richardson.
Tipp is a threat to beat anyone in Division III behind pitchers Cayden McKinney (going to NKU) and Carson Jackson.
And not to be left out…have you read much about the Newton Indians (19-3, Division VII, with pitcher Austin Tipple), or the Arcanum Trojans (22-4, Division V), who have one of the state’s best pitching prospects in righthander Regan Christ (11 wins), committed to play next year at Ohio University? Arcanum plays Mariemont at home on Friday.
They’re all playing this weekend, or they’re supposed to be playing. And while it’s true that you might have to make some calls to confirm, even in anonymity area high school baseball has the players to make you glad you did.
By the way, the weekend forecast is warm, and for overcast and a chance of rain, but not much. That means nothing, of course.
It’s spring in Ohio, and baseball. Where winning 20 games, like Bill Sturwold says, is actually pretty special.
But have you noticed?
Wilson Health/Orthopedics proudly sponsors the best in area sports and the Ohio State Buckeyes on Press Pros.