Archbold primed for another Division III baseball regional
Jun. 3—Interrupted only by a 2020 season lost to the coronavirus pandemic, the Archbold baseball team has extended its string of Division III district championships to five in a row this season.
The Blue Streaks (20-11, 4-3) of the Northwest Ohio Athletic League reached this D-III regional berth in unexpected fashion, at least according to 12th-year head coach Dick Selgo, who returned just one player with any varsity experience from Archbold's last regional team in 2019.
That player is junior pitcher-shortstop D.J. Newman, a three-sport star who will take the mound against Milan Edison (17-11, 8-2), the runner-up from the Sandusky Bay Conference's Bay Division.
The regional semifinal is set for Thursday at 2 p.m. at Elida Middle School.
"They are playing with confidence and having fun, and it seems to be snowballing a little bit," Selgo said of his team's latest regional run. "They're believing in themselves, and our defense is a lot better than it was the first half of the season. "That is a big key. We really struggled defensively, and we seem to have shored that up. Our pitching has been good, and we're getting just enough hits at the right time to make things work out."
If Archbold advances, the Blue Streaks would face the winner of Thursday's 5 p.m. semifinal between Eastwood and Baltimore Liberty Union.
Newman — who quarterbacked the Blue Streaks' league-champion football team and was the top player on Archbold's league-champion basketball squad — is the NWOAL's baseball player of the year for 2021, as well.
Newman is 7-3 pitching with a 2.09 earned-run average and 78 strikeouts in 53 2/3 innings, and is batting .515 (50-for-97) with three home runs, 13 doubles, three triples, 34 runs scored, and 28 runs batted in.
Entering regionals, the Streaks' No. 2 pitcher has been freshman Jayden Seiler (8-3, 1.41 ERA, 61 strikeouts, 54 2/3 innings).
At the plate, complementing Newman have been three other .300-plus hitters — first baseman Jaybe Burkle (.360, 26 runs, 15 RBIs), DH Devin Morris (.302, 20 runs, 13 RBIs), and second baseman Brandon Taylor (.300, 19 RBIs, 17 runs).
Archbold advanced to this fifth straight regional with tournament wins over Liberty Center, 4-2, Northern Buckeye Conference champion Lake, 2-0, Fairview, 5-1, and Otsego, 6-1. The last victory was in last Saturday's district final at Defiance.
"We played very brutal, challenging schedule, and the hope is that that's what will prepare you for the tournament," Selgo said. "We hope that is the case, because we have faced some very good pitchers during the season. We played Perrysburg, Anthony Wayne, Defiance, Bryan, Central Catholic. It might have been a little over our head for this young, inexperienced team, but we're hoping that's going to pay some dividends in the long run."
Selgo expects Edison's Chargers to start ace lefty Thomas Simon in Thursday's matchup.
"We know they have played a really strong schedule, and were very competitive in that schedule," Selgo said. "Simon has got a good fastball and a good curveball, and we have not faced a lot of lefties this year, so that is certainly a concern of ours.
"We're going to need to shut them down. Our pitcher, D.J. Newman, is going to have to be on, and hopefully our defense is making plays behind him because we're not expecting to score a lot of runs off of Simon. Hopefully we can get just enough runs to pull out a victory."
The Streaks are hoping to snap a hard-luck streak of four straight season-ending one-run losses in D-III regional play.
In 2016, Archbold lost 4-3 to Bellville Clear Fork in a regional final. In 2017, the Blue Streaks fell 5-4 in semifinal against Eastwood. In 2018, in was a 4-3 setback against Gahanna Columbus Academy in a semifinals, and in 2019, a top-ranked Archbold squad dropped a 5-4 decision to perennial state power Coldwater in a regional final.
First Published June 2, 2021, 5:43pm
