St. John's baseball falls to Elder in state semifinals
Jun. 13—AKRON — St. John's Jesuit's quest for a first state baseball championship ended on Saturday in a 4-1 loss to Cincinnati Elder in a Division I state semifinal played at Canal Park in Akron.
The Titans (24-7), who were playing in their first state baseball final four, held a 1-0 lead after four innings before the Panthers (25-8) rallied for four runs on seven hits in the fifth and sixth innings to earn their 16th title-game appearance in school history.
"That was a big momentum shift to get that run," St. John's coach Sam Fischer said. "But baseball happens, and we were on the unfortunate side of it today. We had our No. 1 [pitcher] and they had their No. 1. That's a great team and, when you play at this level in these types of games, anything can happen.
"They had the timely hits, they got the runners on, and they did their job. Hat's off to them. But, our guys have nothing to hang their heads about. They did an amazing job setting the tone for the future of St. John's [baseball], and the culture we're trying to build. They built it, and I 'm very proud of them."
Elder will go for its 13th state championship on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Canal Park against the winner of Saturday's second D-I semifinal between New Albany (27-5) and Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit (26-3).
The Titans broke up a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning after two were out.
Senior designated hitter Andrew Pelok ripped the first offering from Elder left-handed starter Jackson Grimmelsman off the fence in left field for a double.
After Panthers catcher Brennan Martin failed to secure a foul popup behind the plate for what would have been the third out, St. John's senior shortstop Nick Pett took advantage of the reprieve.
Pett lined an RBI single to center field to score Pelok, who narrowly beat the throw home from Marco Sabato, giving the Titans a 1-0 lead.
The edge was short-lived however, as Elder responded with four hits to produce two runs in the top of the fifth against St. John's senior right-handed pitcher Jacob Davis (10-1 record).
"I thought we had everything rolling at that point," Pett said. "We got the one run, and I thought Jacob was going to shut them down the next inning.
"They got the one run, and then they got two. After that, it was downhill. That killed our momentum. We just couldn't get any runs."
Jackson Gutzwiller sparked the first Elder rally with a lead-off single. Kevin Hilton's sacrifice bunt moved him to second, and a Davis wild pitch sent him to third. On a 2-2 pitch, Sabato, Elder's No. 9 hitter, grounded an RBI single through the left side to tie the game.
Chris Kammerer followed with another single though the left side, and Luke Vaughn's sharp line single to left scored Sabato to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead before Kammerer was caught attempting to steal third to end the inning.
Elder used three more hits to produce two runs in the sixth.
Grimmelsman ignited the surge with a single to center, moved up on a wild pitch by Davis, and scored on Zak Schlacter's single to right.
Elder left fielder Jack Lambert was inserted to run for Schlachter, and he scored on Jeremy Ward's two-out single to right for a 4-1 Panthers lead.
"That's just a good team," Fischer said. "I told [Davis] he did everything right. It was a hot day, and a competitive day, and a great atmosphere. It went the other way today. They found barrels and they got hits.
"He's going to play college ball [at Kalamazoo College], and I hope he learns from this type of competition. I know it wasn't the way he wanted it, but he's got nothing to be down about."
St. John's was able to get two runners aboard in the sixth inning, with a lead-off single by J.P. Wagner, and Pelok reaching on a two-out throwing error by Elder third baseman Luke Vaugh (2-for-4 batting). But Pett flew out to deep center field and the Titans were unable to cash in.
In the bottom of the seventh, junior third baseman Trey Lake, who had relieved Davis on the mound in the final inning, hit a lead-off single to left. Senior left fielder Carson Toth (2-for-4) added a two-out single to left to get the tying run to the plate for St. John's.
But Grimmelsman got Wagner on a fly to left to end the game.
"We got that run in the fourth and they came back and punched us in the mouth," said Toth, the Titans' top hitter at .457 (43-for-94) this season. "They earned it. They're a good team, and we didn't play our game today. We had too many mistakes.
"I'll never forget this season, I can't even put it into words. I'm very thankful for all of my teammates and my coaches."
The most recent Toledo team to win a D-I state baseball championship was Start in 2000.
First Published June 12, 2021, 6:35pm
