Central Ohio High School Sports Awards: Miller leads ThisWeek's Super 12 baseball team
Liberty Union pitcher Jacob Miller, a right-hander with a blazing fastball, is the Captain of the ThisWeek Super 12 baseball team.
His honor was among dozens announced during the Central Ohio High School Sports Awards on June 15 at the Ohio Theatre. The show was presented by Encova Insurance and in partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine and Raising Cane’s.
Miller is one of nine players named to the team for the first time. Zade Fusselman of Canal Winchester, Keegan Holmstrom of Grove City and Austin Sizemore of Olentangy are repeat honorees.
Below is the Super 12 baseball team:
Cole Cahill
School: Olentangy Orange
Year: Junior
Cahill led the Pioneers from the mound and at the plate. The left-hander was 7-1 with a 1.32 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings. He also batted .295, scored 23 runs and drove in a team-high 25.
Cahill was second-team all-state, first-team all-district and OCC-Central Division co-Player of the Year as Orange finished 17-9 and reached a Division I district semifinal.
David Dielman
School: Olentangy Liberty
Year: Senior
Dielman shared league honors with Cahill and was Division I district Player of the Year as the Patriots’ top two-way player. He batted .410 and had an OPS – on-base plus slugging percentage – of 1.039 with 19 RBI as Liberty won the OCC-Central title and was a district runner-up.
Dielman went 5-3 with a 1.44 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings. He threw an 86-pitch perfect game in a 2-0 win over Upper Arlington on May 4, striking out 10.
Tony Falvo
School: Lancaster
Year: Senior
The spark plug for a Golden Gales team that won a Division I district title last season and was district runner-up this spring was this shortstop, who was the OCC-Buckeye Player of the Year.
Falvo, who also was first-team all-district, hit .364 with 14 stolen bases. Defensively, he led the area with 58 assists while also being a part of 14 double plays.
Zade Fusselman
School: Canal Winchester
Year: Senior
An outfielder, Fusselman led or tied for the them lead in three primary offensive categories as the Indians won their first league championship in five years and were a Division I district runner-up.
Fusselman’s 29 hits led the team, and he tied for first in batting average (.358) and home runs (3) to earn OCC-Capital Player of the Year, first-team all-district and second-team all-state.
Keegan Holmstrom
School: Grove City
Year: Sophomore
Holmstrom helped lead the Greyhounds to their first Division I state final, where they lost to Sylvania Northview 6-1 to finish 26-8 overall. A left-hander, he batted .377 and was 9-0 with a 1.50 ERA, 57 strikeouts and 27 walks in 65 1/3 innings.
Holmstrom was co-Player of the Year in the OCC-Ohio as Grove City shared the title with New Albany at 12-3. He also was first-team all-district and second-team all-state.
Kyle Koehler
School: Pickerington North
Year: Senior
The infielder and pitcher led the Panthers in batting average (.493), hits (36), RBI (27), doubles (8) and home runs (8).
Koehler’s home runs set a single-season program record, and his 10 career homers tied the mark set by Alex Beyer from 2007-09. Koehler was named first-team all-OCC-Ohio, second-team all-district and second-team all-state.
Casey Maruniak
School: Hilliard Darby
Year: Senior
Maruniak was healthy this season after playing through a shoulder injury as a junior and remade his game, going from a pitcher and infielder to a full-time outfielder.
He set single-season program records in batting average (.461), doubles (16) and triples (5) and came within one of tying two other records in hits (41) and RBI (36) on his way to being named first-team all-district and all-OCC-Cardinal.
Jacob Miller
School: Liberty Union
Year: Senior
Projected to be selected high in the Major League Baseball draft, Miller consistently threw 94-97 mph while leading Liberty Union to its first state appearance since 1964.
Miller finished 8-1 with 133 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings, with one save, and gave up just four earned runs all season. He was named the Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year and first-team all-district and all-state in Division III.
Sam Muetzel
School: Newark Catholic
Year: Senior
Muetzel led the way as the Green Wave reached a Division IV state semifinal and finished 25-7.
The LCL-Cardinal Player of the Year and a first-team all-district and all-state honoree, Muetzel hit .457 with 32 runs scored and 19 RBI and also served as a relief pitcher. He committed six errors in 87 chances with a .925 fielding percentage at shortstop.
Trevor Newtz
School: Westerville North
Year: Senior
The pitcher and shortstop led the Warriors to their first district championship since 1988.
Newtz led North in average (.422), hits (35), RBI (24), innings pitched (58 2/3) and wins (6) to earn first-team all-league and second-team all-district. He was 6-4 with a 1.43 ERA, 42 strikeouts and 27 walks.
The Warriors went 19-9, losing to New Albany 9-2 in a Division I regional semifinal.
Caden Robinson
School: New Albany
Year: Senior
One of three pitchers to win at least five games for the Eagles, Robinson went 6-0 with a 1.27 ERA, 77 strikeouts and 23 walks in 44 innings.
New Albany came up short of its second consecutive state tournament, losing 2-0 to Grove City in a regional final to finish 24-7. Robinson, who batted .333 with 16 hits and 10 RBI, was OCC-Ohio co-Player of the Year, first-team all-district and honorable mention all-state.
Austin Sizemore
School: Olentangy
Year: Senior
Sizemore was the top two-way player for Olentangy, which won its first league title since 2017 and was the top seed for the Division I district tournament. He hit .418 and had an OPS of 1.029 with 26 runs scored, 20 RBI, nine doubles and a pair of triples.
Sizemore went 6-0 with a 0.89 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings. He was second-team all-state, first-team all-district and OCC-Cardinal Player of the Year.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Jacob Miller leads ThisWeek's Super 12 baseball team
