Hot As Can Be! Hillsdale smash their way to district title behind 16-run outbreak

PARMA − When you're hot, you're are hot.

That was the case on Thursday at Cuyahoga Community College in Parma, where the Hillsdale Falcons (17-10) smashed their way to the school's second district title in three years with a 16-1 forceful win over Ashtabula St. John's (16-6) to advance to next Thursday's regional semifinals versus Lake Center Christian.

More: Doing just enough: Hillsdale defeats Mapleton by scoring any way possible

Hillsdale head coach Jason Snow said after the Falcons' 9-6 win over Mapleton in Tuesday's district semifinal win, that he thought as some point during this postseason he expected his team to have to win a 2-1, 3-1 type game to keeping advancing. But, did he expect a 16-run level outburst in a district final?

"No, we got a lot of breaks," said Snow. "Some bloopers, some infield hits, line drives and walked some guys. We took advantage of their mistakes. I would have thought it would be a 4-3, 5-3 game. We answered there with 1-2-3. We hit into the holes and into the gaps."

The Fighting Herald actually struck first at the top of the first inning but after that, it was all Hillsdale. As soon as St. Johns starting pitcher Aaron Wychock threw the first pitch, Falcons hitters seem to get a read on him. What he was throwing. What he wasn't throwing. Gauging well what's in the zone and what's not. Observing before swinging. They scored three runs in the first inning, and they were off to the races after that.

"Our coach always tells us, 'Find your pitch,'" said Hillsdale third baseman Owen Hoffman. "We got the best nine guys out there on the field and in the lineup. He preaches that and it showed today."

The Falcons outhit the Fighting Herald 13-5, with seven players driving in a run, but did the majority of their damage in the fourth inning, where they blew up for 11 runs. The Falcons 16 runs were the second-most runs they've scored this season, behind the 23 (23-5 win) the team dropped against Tuslaw on April 27.

Was this the hottest the team has been at the plate all year?

"We've gotten hot a couple of times this season," said Hillsdale's Gavin Casdorph, who earned the win as the Falcons starting pitcher, including producing two RBIs. "We've also struggled and we've also improved a lot since the last week of the regular season."

"We've had a few games getting up there where we scored a lot but it's definitely one of the hottest we've been," Hoffman said, who went 2 for 3, with three RBIs.

"That fourth inning was," Snow added. "I thought we did a better job with hitting pitches we want to swing at. No chasing. One of our weaknesses is getting behind the count and swinging at pitches out of the zone. We did better today finding and swinging at pitches in the zone."

In terms of assessing the pitcher well, Hoffman points to the team being able to use a new pitching machine this season that's helped, along with being presented detailed scouting reports on opposing pitchers from coaches.

"This year we got a new pitching machine. We've been using it a lot," said Hoffman. "Basically, seeing what pitches are thrown over the course of the year. The day before practice, we get a good scouting report, get an idea of their speed and what kind of pitches they're throwing. It showed in the game."

After collecting the team district title trophy and their individual medals, Snow, Hoffman and Casdorph let their feelings be known about getting their school another district title.

"It means a lot, especially to Coach Snow," said Casdorph. "He works hard to get us better each week."

"Last time we won a district title was my sophomore year (2022) when we made the regional finals," Hoffman said. "It's definitely an honor to get back there."

"Some of these guys were on that team. Braylen [Jarvis], Jack [Fickes]. They were part of that team playing," Snow said. "We talk about how we got up 5-0 (in 2022 regional final) and loss. In my mind, when we're up 6-1, we've been here before. Some of those seniors were on that team. Were the third team from our conference (Wayne County Conference) going to regionals, along with Waynedale and Norwayne. Shows the competitiveness in our conference."

jsimpson@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Hillsdale roll past St. Johns for district title win