Lincolnview falls in state finals

Jun. 14—AKRON — Lincolnview was a finalist, but didn't get the final result it wanted when it fell 4-0 to Warren John F. Kennedy in the Division IV baseball state championship game at Canal Park on Sunday.

A three-run inning by Warren JFK set the tone early and the Lancers weren't able to overcome that early lead.

The state runner-up Lancers finished the season 24-9. Warren JFK ended its season 21-6.

Lincolnview came to Akron seeking a gold trophy but had to settle for a silver one.

Despite the unmistakable disappointment after Sunday's game, there was much for this year's Lancers to celebrate.

"It's a special team. Starters or not starters they all bought in and they knew their roles. They all were great teammates," Lincolnview coach Eric Fishpaw said.

"Twenty-four wins set the school record. There are a lot more records broken by this team. I couldn't be more proud of the entire team. Dedication and hard work will take those guys wherever they want to go in their lives," he said.

Lincolnview put runners on base in the first six innings against Warren JFK junior right-hander Gavin Shrum (7 strikeouts, 1 walk, 5 hits allowed). But he was able to escape without giving up a run.

Lincolnview, a .320 hitting team this season, scored in only one of the 14 innings it played in Akron — the two runs it got in the seventh inning on Saturday to beat Lucasville Valley 2-1.

"Once you get deep down the tournament trail it's hard to score runs. You have to try to find a way to manufacture some. We put the ball in play. They made a couple double plays up the middle that were really important and kept us from getting on the board," Fishpaw said.

"It's tough to score runs down here and I'm proud of our pitching efforts and super proud of all our kids. You had a good hitting team over there. We tip our caps to Warren JFK for a well-played game," he said.

Lincolnview had two runners on base in the second inning and the fourth inning but Warren JFK turned double plays to get out of both innings.

The second inning escape might have been especially big for the Eagles, who had made errors on back-to-back plays to put two Lancers on base.

First, left fielder Michael Mauro and center fielder Alex DeSalvo ran into each other and lost the handle on a fly ball hit by Caden Hanf. Then, catcher Caleb Hadley picked up Aaron Cavinder's bunt and fired the ball to second base, which was a big problem because none of his teammates were anywhere near second base.

"We emphasize defense. We didn't show it in that one inning. But that one inning where we made a couple of errors and got out of it with one pitch, I think that was a momentum swing," Warren JFK coach Jim Ciambatti said.

Maybe the biggest momentum swing in the game came in the fourth inning when the Eagles scored three runs.

That rally started when Cam Hollobaugh was hit by a pitch with one out. Hadley walked and Mauro singled to score Hollobaugh with the game's first run. With two outs, Aiden Rossi singled to make it 2-0 and Santino Ciambatti got another single to make it 3-0.

Warren JFK scored a fourth run in the top of the fifth inning on another single by Mauro.

The Eagles had eight hits against Lincolnview starter Collin Overholt (9 strikeouts, 3 walks).

Shrum seemed to get stronger as the game went on. Five of his seven strikeouts came in the final three innings.

"He was our No. 2. It was kind of a toss-up between him and (freshman right fielder) Jaden Rishel all year. But we felt in certain situations we were going to go with the older upper classman and it

worked out," Ciambatti said. "We knew it was going to be a pitchers' duel. We knew it was going to be a tight game."