Hoban baseball bids farewell to 6 seniors, set to return majority of starters in 2024
OBERLIN — The Hoban baseball team concluded its 2023 season with a Division I regional semifinal appearance Thursday at Oberlin College’s Dill Field.
University School senior ace Evan Shapiro pitched a complete game and limited Hoban to two hits in the Preppers' 5-1 win over the Knights.
US earned the right to return to Oberlin to play Walsh Jesuit in a regional final at 5 p.m. Friday. Walsh defeated Wadsworth 1-0 in Thursday’s other semifinal at Dill Field.
Hoban's season ended just short of a third consecutive state tournament appearance. The Knights won the Division II state championship in 2021 and were the Division II state runners-up in 2022.
"We still have a lot of room for improvement," Hoban sophomore Jordan Kievman said. "We have a lot of great guys and this team played great, and there are up and coming young players that have a lot of talent. I feel like we can build on this year and reflect on it."
Shapiro struck out eight, walked one and hit one in seven innings.
US scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to break a 1-1 tie. The Preppers had two hits in the inning and took advantage of four errors and two wild pitches by the Knights.
Freshman Deacon Nelson singled in the sixth and scored on a throwing error to give US a 2-1 lead. Senior David Faremouth delivered a double to score junior Riley Penn, who reached on a dropped third strike. Sophomre Tucker Greer reached on a fielding error, and Faremouth and senior Sammy Martin scored when sophomore Aaron Moss smacked a fly ball to the outfield that was misplayed.
Faremouth was involved in the first run of the game in the fifth when he roped a double and then was lifted for sophomore pinch runner Sal Prolizo. Greer followed with a single to score Prolizo.
Hoban drew even at 1-1 in the sixth. Junior Parker Falkenstein was hit by a pitch, sophomore Andrew Karhoff hit a single and Kievman singled to score Falkenstein.
"We worked hard in practice and we played well in the beginning of the playoffs , but obviously we had one bad inning today," Falkenstein said.
Karhoff pitched into the sixth inning and allowed two runs.
"I think the program is in a great place," Karhoff said. "This season was definitely a lot harder than last season, jumping up to D I and we played a tougher schedule. ... We bonded together at the end of the year."
Hoban baseball coach Derek Carmichael said he is "excited about the future" with several returning starters and reserves.
“We had a tough middle of the year and played liked .500 baseball in the middle of the year,” Carmichael said. “We kind of upped the ante a little bit at practice and the kids had confidence. They said ‘We are going to figure this out by the end of the year.’ It came out of their mouth and it wasn’t cliche.
“We started playing our best baseball at the end of the year. Getting eight hits off of [Ellet senior] Cam Allen [in a sectional final] really started everything coming off of a no-hitter that he pitched last year. We stayed red-hot against Chardon, swung the bats well against Massillon and then tonight, we faced a really good starting pitcher. We had two really, really good starting pitchers going tonight. We knew it was going to be a close game. The wheels fell off in the sixth. You can’t have [four] errors in a regional game."
The result ended the Hoban careers of senior starters Zack Zimmerman and Nate Shimmel and senior reserves Luke Driscoll, Andrew Haas, Jack Stephens, Colin Coyne and Joe Stock.
“Overall for the season, we had a lot of young guys get their feet wet and a lot of guys that had played in two state championship games," Carmichael said. "It was a good mix. It is sad seeing the seniors go. They did more behind the scenes than people realize because we were not playing all of the seniors regularly. They really showed the underclassmen, this is what it takes to be a Hoban baseball player.”
Hoban junior Michael Ciavolella said he will miss the aforementioned seniors.
"Those were my closest friends my freshman year when we won the state championship and they are still my closest friends," Ciavolella said. "I hang out with them every weekend. I am not really sad that baseball is over with, I am sad that they are leaving. I love those guys. Being around them everyday and being around them after school ends because we had gone to back-to-back state championships was special."
Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: University School tops Hoban in OHSAA regional semifinal at Oberlin
