OHSAA baseball: Errors hurt Olentangy Orange in Division I title game loss to Moeller
AKRON — It wasn’t the finish the Olentangy Orange baseball team wanted, but senior pitcher Jacob Tabor and the Pioneers took pride in their postseason run.
Playing for the first time with a state title on the line, Orange fell 4-1 to Cincinnati Moeller in the Division I championship game Saturday at Canal Park.
After being the seventh seed in the Central District tournament, the Pioneers ended up playing on the season’s final day. They defeated Olentangy Liberty 7-6 in a regional semifinal — after losing to the Patriots in all three of their OCC-Central Division matchups — knocked off last year's state runner-up, Grove City, 6-1 in the regional final and outlasted Whitehouse Anthony Wayne 3-2 in nine innings in a state semifinal Thursday.
“I didn’t expect (this postseason run),” Tabor said. “Nobody expected it. For us to be here, shock the world, it’s something special. No other (team) in Orange history has done it before, and to do it with 16 of my best friends as seniors and the rest of those dudes is something special to me. It’s something I’m never going to forget.”
Orange’s defense helped precipitate its demise, as three early errors led to an unearned run and 2-0 deficit after three innings. The Pioneers (23-11) finished with four errors as Moeller (31-3) captured its ninth championship, and first since 2015, in its 14th trip to state.
Orange, with 17 seniors on its roster, was playing in the state tournament for the second time. The Pioneers lost in a semifinal in 2017.
“We didn’t play a clean game, but that team (Moeller) is going to make you pay,” Orange coach Tom Marker said.
Moeller opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Leadoff batter C.J. Richard reached on shortstop Charlie Scholvin’s error and scored on first baseman Diego Astacio’s throwing error on a rundown.
The Crusaders added a run in the third when Toby Hueber stole third and came home on catcher Casey Covert’s throwing error.
Orange got on the board in the fourth when Astacio led off with a single and scored on a Keegan Knupp groundout.
Moeller added two runs in the fifth. Hueber led off with a double, stole third and scored on Clay Burdette’s single; and Burdette scored on Connor Christenson’s single.
“It was a good run,” Marker said. “We put ourselves in position and that’s all we wanted is an opportunity. I thought our guys gave us a few more opportunities than I expected getting into the (state) tournament, so it’s tough.”
Sophomore Zion Theophilus, an LSU recruit, delivered a complete-game effort for the Crusaders, allowing six hits while striking out seven and walking one. He also went the distance in an 8-2 win over Orange on April 22.
“There’s no secret,” Theophilus said of beating Orange twice this season. “When you have a great team like I do and I believe in myself, I think you can do anything. With us, I believe we can beat any team in America.”
Tabor was tagged with the loss, allowing one earned run on eight hits while striking out three and walking one in six innings.
“This hurts,” he said. “I knew coming into the game they were going to hit me a little bit. I had to (face) some adversity, and as hard as it was, I knew they were going to score. ... I could have done some things better. They just beat us. They’re a good team. I tip my cap to them. They hit and they hit, and they won that game.”
Playing in his final prep game, Astacio had two of Orange’s six hits.
“After last year getting knocked out in the district semis then coming back and getting to the state final means a lot to us,” Astacio said. “Losing (stinks), especially in the playoffs, but to put it into perspective, we’re the first team in the high school to get (to the state final) against the No. 1 team in the state. We battled. We punched back a couple of times. We just didn’t get (enough) hits.”
Richard, Hueber and Christenson had two hits apiece for Moeller, which had six stolen bases.
“We broke the school record for stolen bases (in a season) about a week ago, so that’s been a major part of our game since I became the head coach,” Moeller's Tim Held said. “We want guys that can run. ... We’re going to push the envelope no matter how big the game is.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Errors hurt Olentangy Orange in OHSAA Division I title game loss
