Seniors swing away in Wayne-Holmes All-Star finale

WOOSTER — Trent Barstow doesn't remember hitting a triple in his entire baseball career.

Maybe during a little league sometime. But maybe not.

So, he won't forget his triple from Wednesday night's Wayne-Holmes Senior All-Star Game. Or his second one. Or his third one.

The recently graduated senior from Norwayne went 3-for-3 with three triples and also threw two scoreless innings, but even that wasn't enough during a senior game with a ton of offense as Blue took down Barstow's Red Team 9-7 in a matchup featuring the top players from around Wayne County, Holmes County and the surrounding areas.

Barstow earned MVP honors for Red and Karson Coblentz won Blue MVP honors after going 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Those performances highlighted a game that included 16 hits and just as many runs.

Far from a typical triple machine, Barstow played offensive line for Norwayne in football and probably wouldn't win a race against his collection of teammates in Wednesday's game. But his opposite-field power placed the ball the exact right spots for him to get to third in each of his at bats.

"I didn't really think on the first two that I'd be going three," Barstow said. "The last one, I figured I'd go for it."

All three of Barstow's hits were either in the right-center gap or down the right field line. He finished with three RBIs and scored twice to go along with a four-strikeout day on the mound.

Meanwhile, Coblentz made sure Barstow wasn't the only one getting in on the triple party, going for one of his own in Blue's four-run fourth inning. That two-run hit gave Blue a 7-6 lead, which it increased to 9-6 by the end of the inning.

After struggling at the plate during his senior season, Coblentz ended things on a high note with his performance in a game full of some of the top hitters in the area.

"It was no pressure," Coblentz said. "During the spring, for some reason, I just wasn't swinging. It was a big mental thing. My first two at bats (Wednesday), I swung at the first pitch. It was just a different feel out here today."

Thanks to hits from teammates Brock Tisko (Triway), Rudy Hershberger (West Holmes), Micah Martin (West Holmes) and Drew Rader, Coblentz and the Blue ended up with the victory.

During a game that featured very few quick innings, the Blue got two big ones from Triway's Griffin Braun, who threw two perfect innings despite not throwing at all since the end of the Titans' season.

"My arm had some time to recover," Braun said. "It had been pretty sore all year. I had fun out there, for sure."

Noah Clark started the game for Blue, despite badly injuring a finger on his non-throwing hand days earlier in a work accident. The West Holmes ace allowed the first four batter to reach base before settling in and allowing just one run.

Jacob Hatfield had a two-hit day for Red, while Jay Mast (Waynedale), Ethan Goodwin (Hillsdale), Ean Miller (Waynedale) and Aiden Milosevich also had hits.

"I'm friends with a lot of guys on both teams, so it was good to come out here and enjoy it one last time," Braun said.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Baseball: Seniors shine in Wayne-Holmes All-Star finale