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Poland earns first state baseball berth since 1983
By Greg Gulas
HUDSON
Last season, Poland suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat at the hands of Peninsula Woodridge in a Division II baseball regional final.
The Bulldogs were denied, yet again, in what has become an elusive state tournament berth for the school.
That trend ended Friday at The Ball Park at Hudson.
This tme, Poland did the denying and in the process punched the program’s second-ever ticket to the state’s “Final Four” and the first time since the 1983 campaign.
Adam Knight scattered six hits and worked out of jams in the first and fifth innings, while Eric White had three hits, two runs batted in and scored a run as the Bulldogs defeated Akron South, 8-4, for their first regional title under head coach Rich Murray.
Knight, who improved to 9-0 on the season, said it took a longer than usual for him to find his rhythm.
“I had a slow start today and it took me extra time to get warmed up,” Knight said. “ In the fourth inning I felt stronger, then settled in and was able to throw strikes.
“Working with a lead and getting two strikeouts in a one, two, three inning also helped. My fastball is my out pitch, but today I was also able to throw my off-speed pitch for strikes.”
Murray became the first Poland player to play in a state tournament and also lead the program to a state appearance as a coach.
“Our goal from day one was to get to the state for Coach [Murray], simply because he hasn’t been there in a long time,” said Jared Burkert, who pitched Poland into the regional final by defeating Tallmadge, 6-4 in Thursday’s semifinal. “When we were down 3-1 after three innings we still felt comfortable because we had Adam on the hill. We play solid defense, have depth and it was only a matter of time before out bats would get going.”
Like Burkert the day before, Murray never entertained the thought of lifting Knight, despite trailing heading to the fourth frame.
“Look at Adam, he’s so muscular that it takes him a while to get loose,” Murray said. “When he did settle in, that’s when everything changed. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but these kids worked their tails off all season and they deserve this trip to state.
“So many teams get to this point, only to get turned away. I can tell you that it’s just as much fun to have gone to state as a player and now as a coach. These guys keep me young.”
It didn’t take the Bulldogs long to get on the board, scoring the game’s first run in their initial at bat when Anthony Calcagni led off with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Dom Lipari’s single.
The Wildcats (23-7) answered in their half of the first on RBI singles by John Haslam and Austin Ness for a 2-1 lead.
The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the second inning but were unable to score and stranded five runners in the first two frames. Poland left 12 runners on base for the game.
Canton South made it 3-1 in its half of the second on a run-scoring double by Wilson.
Poland batted around in the fourth and scored four runs to take a 5-3 lead.
Lipari doubled in two runs and two more scored on an error and a wild pitch.
“I trusted our team to rally around Adam,” Lipari said. “We’ve worked hard all season long and today we beat a good Canton South team.”
Ness’ sacrifice fly in the fifth got Canton South within a run, 5-4.
White’s third hit drove in two runs in the sixth to make it 7-4.
“I saw the ball and just hit it today,” White added. “We got the momentum in the fourth inning and never gave it back.”
Burkert had an RBI single in the top of the seventh.
There were nine miscues in the game; six of which were credited to the Wildcats.
Poland (27-2) will meet Columbus Bishop Watterson — a 14-2 winner Friday over Bellbrook — in a state semifinal at 10 a.m. on June 5 at Huntington Park in Columbus.