'Mr. Walkoff' Keagan Gilbride is no longer a 'pitcher only' for Tallmadge baseball team
Keagan Gilbride has become “Mr. Walkoff” for the Tallmadge baseball team this season.
Gilbride delivered a walk-off grand slam home run in a 7-5 win over Highland on April 4 and a walk-off two-run single in a 5-4 win over Cloverleaf on April 19.
Not bad for a 6-foot-2, 190-pound junior who entered this season with limited opportunities to hit the past two seasons as a “pitcher only.”
Akron baseball coverage: Summit County-area high school baseball: 10 teams to watch in 2023
“It has been pretty much indescribable,” Gilbride said April 20 of the two game-winning hits after Tallmadge won 7-3 at home over Copley at Dave Young Field. “I have been able to step up this year and take a bigger role in the batting order, especially after last year being a pitcher only. It feels unreal. This is something that doesn’t happen a lot. My teammates put me in a situation where I was up with them on base.
“... Late in the game, I am in a position of really looking to put the ball in play and see what can happen.”
Gilbride’s heroics at the plate helped Tallmadge open the season with a record of 9-5 overall and 5-2 in the Suburban League American Conference.
Akron baseball coverage: Summit County high school baseball: 15 players to watch in 2023
“It is sweet seeing Keagan’s development,” Tallmadge senior catcher-shortstop-pitcher Seth Yacobucci said. “He is a younger guy taking us where we need to go. He is helping pick all of us up.”
Gilbride, 17, relies on his fastball, curve, slider and changeup while pitching and also plays left field or first base.
Gilbride is hitting .324 with 14 RBIs, and is 1-1 with a 3.40 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 26⅓ innings.
“Keagan is really growing as an all-around player,” Tallmadge coach Kenny Linn said. “He was ahead of his age level ... He is in his third year as a varsity pitcher, and then the rest of his game has caught up with him. Obviously, he is a really good athlete. He has a good arm. He is very strong. He has a middle linebacker mentality. He is a tough kid who battles every time he goes to the mound and just competes.
“It is nice to see him have the success he has had because he puts the time in, he cares about it and he is a great kid. This couldn’t happen to anybody better."
Akron baseball coverage: Twin legacies drive Tallmadge's Seth Yacobucci on the baseball field
Tallmadge gears up for another postseason baseball run
Gilbride and Yacobucci are confident Tallmadge can make another postseason run this spring in the Division II tournament and challenge for the program's third baseball state championship.
Yacobucci, a Lake Erie College recruit, said Tallmadge’s players are “hungry and ready to win the district championship.”
“We want to make more runs and keep playing how we play,” Yacobucci said. “… Everybody is so close on this team.”
Tallmadge has 11 seniors this season, including Yacobucci, right fielder Eric Prior, left fielder Alexzander Hopkins, third baseman Isaac Tharp, shortstop Justin Theisen, pitcher/first baseman Beau Gromley, pitcher Brady Parks and pitcher Ty Hurst.
“This is a great senior class,” Gilbride said. “I have had the opportunity to be with them since they started in high school, too, because of [the] COVID-19 [pandemic]. We didn’t have a 2020 season. We have a lot of experience coming out of those guys that are seniors. Great leadership, and it is nice to play with them.”
Prior is hitting .477 with 15 runs and Theisen has scored 11 runs. Gromley is 4-0 with 15 strikeouts in 15 innings and is hitting .346 with nine RBIs. Parks, a Malone recruit, is 4-1 with one save and a 1.07 ERA in 26 innings.
“You got Yacobucci, Theisen, Gromley, Prior and Tharp — five starters that were on the field last year,” Linn said. “These seniors have played a lot of baseball. They have played a really good schedule. They have been in big games over the last couple of years with the district title games, with games against Defiance, Ignatius and Hoban.”
Tallmadge is also getting solid contributions from junior center fielder Mark Manzo, sophomore third baseman/designated hitter Gabe Jones, sophomore second baseman Caleb Reifsnyder (.301) and sophomore catcher/designated hitter Izaac Zraik (.357).
'Next group' ready to lead Tallmadge to more baseball success
Linn, a 1992 Hoban graduate who played for the Knights and coached at St. Vincent-St. Mary, took over the Tallmadge baseball team in 2004. He has led the Blue Devils to six league championships, six district titles, two regional crowns and a Division II state championship in 2017.
Tallmadge has played in a district final 10 out of the past 11 seasons and made 14 district final appearances under Linn.
Prior to Linn, former coach Don Seeker guided Tallmadge for eight seasons from 1996-2003. Seeker’s Tallmadge teams won four league championships, six district titles, four regional crowns, finished as a state runner-up in 1996, 2000 and 2001 and won the Division II state championship in 2002.
“I am excited to see these guys grow as players as this year,” Linn said. “They are excited about wanting another shot to make a run. They want to be league champs. They want to be district champs. It is something where you show up everyday with a team that is on the same page as you are.
"That is a great feeling when you know your entire team is all in to accomplish what the Blue Devils try to do every year, which is be league champs, district champs and make long runs. This is the next group.”
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: Keagan Gilbride of Tallmadge develops into all-around baseball player
