breaking news: Redskins are finally set for their first trip to Akron…
Indian Creek players and coaches celebrate after winning the Region 7 Championship Game Friday in Athens. The Redskins will look to celebrate again Friday when they take on West Branch in the state semifinals at Canal Park in Akron.
AKRON — A whirlwind. That is how veteran Indian Creek coach Mike described the days since Friday’s program-first regional championship.
The team has been treated to dinner by local restaurants, was set for a pep rally and part of a parade at Wednesday’s in and have been the center of attention locally and statewide as they prepare for the school’s first state tournament appearance.
However, through all that, the focus is on baseball — in particular getting ready for West Branch, who the Redskins face at 1 p.m. Friday at Canal Park, the home of the RubberDucks minor league team, in the Division II semifinals.
Its been busy, but in a good way, said. Our parents and community have just been unbelievable with their support of the boys.
We’ve been going through our normal practice routine, but after practice the parents and community members have organized dinners for the players … it’s been a great experience for the boys.
We’ve been telling them to soak it all in. They’ve been really focused and in practice and outside of practice you can see how tight these guys are, they’re having a lot of fun together.
They’ve been really focused in practice and they know this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They’re ready to seize the moment.
The team has been treated to dinners at Seven Ranges, Townhouse in Mingo Junction and Murray’s. The team also paid a visit to the little league field on Wednesday to talk to future players to wear the Red and Gold and had a pep rally at the high school.
The path to get there has seen the Redskins (22-6) win several different ways: A 3-0 win over River View in the sectional final, a 5-4 comeback win over Carrollton in the district semis and a 1-0 pitcher’s dual in the district final against state-ranked Tri-Valley, then a 10-8 slug fest against OVAC champion St. Clairsville before hanging on for a 7-5 win against Waverly in a game Creek led from the first inning on.
The one constant in those games has been strong pitching.
Hyde and Sal have split the starting duties in the tournament, and each have been strong.
Hyde, who is 7-1 with a 1.80 ERA on the season is 3-0 with a 2.94 ERA in the tournament, with 27 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings in the postseason.
He was the winning pitcher in both games of the regional tournament, getting the win in relief against the Red Devils and then starting and going 6-plus innings against Waverly.
who is 5-1 with a 2.58 ERA on the season, is 2-0 in the tournament with a complete game shutout in the district final and an ERA of 1.61 in the tournament.
When called upon in relief of those two, Gavin has recorded a pair of saves.
At the plate, Creek’s bats heated up in the regional tournament with a combined 25 hits in the two victories.
Hyde was just as much of a factor at the plate as he was with his arm, racking up six RBIs in the regional.
had four hits and three RBIs in the two games and Landon , one of just two Creek seniors, had four hits.
In the tournament as a whole, Hyde has seven RBIs, has seven hits and seven RBIs and Landon has six hits.
On the season, has hit .413 with 26 RBIs, Hyde has hit .375 and Landon .385 with 16 RBIs. Ty Householder is also hitting over .300 for the season at .310 with 17 RBIs.
The opponent is a new one for Creek, just as Waverly was, as the teams have not met this season and just one common opponent in Carrollton.
The Warriors, ranked No. 12 in the final Ohio Baseball Coaches Association Poll, enter the state tournament with a mark of 27-6 and have won eight-straight and 15 of their last 17 games.
It’s good and bad (to see new teams), sometimes when you play a familiar opponent it can work on you mentally based on how you performed against the in the past,” said.
(Senior) Nicky Maurer said it best (Tuesday at practice) when he said ‘we just have to go out and play our game.’ If we go out and play our game, we feel like we have a real good shot.
We’ve been looking at information on West Branch, with modern technology it’s easier to get a little bit of a scouting report now with YouTube videos and stuff on social media. We feel like as coaches we have put together a pretty good scouting report.
“Once the first pitch is thrown, baseball is baseball. You can study hitting tendencies on the opponent and prepare for that, but what happens if they hit it down the line and you’re not there? We do the best we can to prepare and in the end we just have to go out there and play.”
West Branch senior Aaron Tucker has a .431 batting average and a team-leading 44 hits. Second-team All-Ohioan senior Beau is who West Branch coach Rick told the Morning Journal will get the ball Friday, while junior Anthony Perry leads the team with a .454 batting average.
In the other semifinal, No. 6 ranked Hamilton Badin, who is 26-6, also on an eight-game winning streak and has not allowed a run in the tournament winning its games a combined 50-0, will take on 19-10-1 Padua Franciscan at 10 a.m. in the opening game on Friday.
The winner of that game meets the Creek-West Branch victor at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning for the state championship trophy.
After playing its regional final in a Division I college stadium, Ohio University’s Wren Stadium, a pro park will be an equally exciting experience for Creek.
We’re going to get there early enough to catch some of the game before us, said. They might be a little in awe of the atmosphere at first, but these guys have played beyond their years and with maturity all season.
I think they’re going to walk in there, take it all in for a moment and look around then say, ‘alright, let’s do it.’
“We’ve got a lot of guys that are young that are playing like seniors, we’ve only got two seniors, and these guys are really playing beyond their years.
