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Flawless defense triggers Champion baseball’s first state crown
Gallery
By ERIC MAUK
COLUMBUS
Champion saved its best for last in Saturday’s Division III state championship game, playing flawless defense and getting a gutty pitching performance from Andrew Russell to win the school’s first state baseball championship.
The Golden Flashes completed a 27-3 season by beating defending state champion Hiland 1-0 on Saturday at Huntington Park, making a first-inning run stand up despite repeated threats from the previously unbeaten Hawks.
Photo Gallery: Champion Baseball State Championship
The title brings a baseball crown to Trumbull County for the first time since Leavittsburg won in 1943.
“This is absolutely amazing,” Champion coach Rick Yauger said. “It’s beyond words right now. Words cheapen moments like this because you can over-talk it.
“It’s hard to win a state championship. It’s a grind. But we stayed focused, stayed strong and got it done.”
Champion’s Lucas Nasonti was the first purple-clad Flash to walk to the plate and scored the game’s lone run. Nasonti was hit by a pitch, Kyle Forrest sacrificed him to second and Michael Turner singled up the middle to drive Nasonti home.
“We talked about getting out in front early,” Yauger said. “Our kids are so unselfish. There was no doubt that Kyle was going to go up there and move Lucas and then Michael got the big hit for us and got us rolling.”
The Flashes rode the right arm of Russell, but Hiland (31-1) made sure that the entire Champion defense was involved.
The first inning was the only one where the sophomore retired the Hawks in order as they threatened nearly every frame from then on.
Hiland had a runner on third base with one out in the third and fourth innings, and had the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth, but Champion’s defense rose to the occasion every time.
“I knew I just had to keep calm and know the defense would be there when we got in trouble,” Russell said. “I just had to keep my emotions in check. If they get runners and you get out of it, the next inning you just have to put it out of your head and remember that it is a new inning.”
Flashes second baseman Justin Taninecz made a strong play in the third to help strand two Hiland runners, then Russell got two strikeouts to leave Ryan Hershberger at third base in the fourth inning.
But Champion saved its best Houdini act for the fifth.
A pair of two-out singles and a walk loaded the bases for sophomore Andrew Miller, who had led Hiland with two hits and an RBI in their semifinal win over Cincinnati Hills Christian. Miller fought off a high fastball from Russell, fouling it high behind the plate.
But the Huntington Park dimensions allowed Champion’s Turner more room to track the foul popup, and he went all the way to the screen to end the threat.
But even this moment had its own drama as the umpires discussed the play. In the end the out was counted.
“That is one of the first things that I look at when I come out to the field is how much room I have behind the plate and this gave me more than we usually have,” Turner said. “Once I saw the umpires talking I got a little nervous, but I knew I had made the play.”
Even the seventh inning had a heart-stopping moment as Bryan Yoder reached first after a long fly ball, bringing up the dangerous Hershberger. But Will Kovach ran the fly ball down in center to preserve the championship trophy.