Highland driving toward outright MOAC baseball title
CALEDONIA — Highland baseball coach Don Kline had no idea Shelby was upsetting Clear Fork for a second time in as many days after watching his team handle River Valley 9-4 Thursday night.
Not that it would matter if he did.
"The approach has to be one pitch at a time right here. Nothing else. We can’t look at box scores or scoreboards," Kline said
The two losses by the Colts all but gift-wrapped a second straight Mid Ohio Athletic Conference baseball championship if the Scots handled their business at home in the return game with River Valley on Friday that was decided after press time.
"We’re trying to lead them," Kline said of his experienced coaching staff. "I told them winning a conference game is hard. It doesn’t matter who you are playing, Tip your cap to River Valley. I thought they played really good today. We hit some at-em balls, and before we know it, it’s a 3-1 game and they get the tying run on base. Everybody gets nervous and it’s a fun game.
"The focus has to be one pitch at a time, one inning at a time and focus on just this game. We’ll worry about everything else at a later time."
Highland will look to win the MOAC outright on Tuesday when it hosts Clear Fork or Wednesday when it goes to Bellville. The Colts are two games behind Highland in the loss column entering the final week of the league season.
"We’ve been around this before, and we’ve been in some races," Kline said. "If you start looking over the fence and looking at scores, you may leave something behind over here. If you do so, it could cost you a game.
"River Valley got us last year. We split with them last year. They just play us tough. They really do and we tip our cap. We told the boys that tomorrow is going to be tougher than today and today was a dog fight. Tomorrow will be tougher, and we’ll worry about next week, next week. It’s one pitch at a time, one inning at a time."
Before this season, the Scots had won 13 league championships and 315 games since 2005, plus three district crowns and a regional title.
Trying to win a 14th conference trophy and a fifth consecutive league title this spring seemed ambitious considering the Scots graduated 15 seniors over the last two seasons and returned just 11 percent of their pitching.
His two aces are sophomore Kort Sears who pitched one inning last year and freshman Zach Church. They have emerged as two of the better arms in the entire area.
"We have very little experience on the bump, and you’ve covered enough games to know that will keep coaches up at night," he said with a laugh. "The biggest thing I was concerned about was the pitching, but the boys have found a way. They’ve competed."
Heading into this week, the entire staff was 16-3 with a mind-boggling low 1.85 ERA. Only 32 of the 55 runs allowed are earned, and the Scots have given up just 23 runs in league games in 2023. Couple that with being the best-hitting team in the MOAC and the highest-scoring outfit, and Highland is playing well beyond its years.
"One thing I like is this is a good group of guys. They’re good kids. They really are," Kline said of a lineup that includes two freshmen and two sophomores. "They’re not somebody we have to worry about. The only thing we have to worry about is how young and inexperienced they are.
"We thought we would be able to put the ball in play a little bit this year, and we’ve done that this year. The defense has been up and down. I’m not going to lie to you. The pitching has been the most pleasant surprise for sure."
The senior class is small but productive with Layton Shaffer, Zach Schmidt and Brock Church.
"The three seniors we have, pound-for-pound, really help us. Those are three guys who do a lot for us," he said.
And a group that should leave a legacy that includes another league championship.
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Highland driving toward outright MOAC baseball title
