Hiland baseball rallies past St. Henry, reaches final

Twelve times Berlin Hiland batters went to the plate in the fourth inning of the OHSAA Division VI state semifinal contest against St. Henry at 717 Credit Union Park, formerly Canal Park.

The Hawks entered their home half of the fourth down 2-0 but came out of the inning with a 6-2 lead over the Redskins. Hiland added a score in the sixth inning to make the final score 7-2.

The triumph advances the 25-4 Hawks to the State Championship title game Friday at 10 a.m. at the same location against the 24-4-1 Hartville Lake Center Christian Lions, who beat Galion Northmor 5-3 for the right to oppose Hiland. It set up a rematch of the 2025 state title game, which Hiland won 5-4.

It didn’t look promising for the Hawks at first. Hiland starter Mike Miller was fanning Redskins batters but giving up hits as well. St. Henry fashioned a two-run rally in the third when Tate Boeckman singled, advanced to second on a sacrifice and scored on Jake Schwieterman’s two-out double. An error and a passed ball enabled Schwieterman to score as well.

But the tide turned when Hiland faced Redskins starter Max Delzeith the second time around in the lineup.

Total team effort second time around

“We just kept telling our guys to put quality at-bats together, and (hits) were going to come,” Hiland coach Chris Dages said in his postgame press interview. “We put together a lot of good at-bats. Whenever we can, we would get an extra base hit and put runners in scoring position.”

Six different Hawks pounded out at least one hit —- five of them for extra bases —- and seven different Hiland runners scored in the contest. Perhaps none of them were bigger than Gerut Monigold’s triple leading off the fourth inning. It was the second time around for Hiland seeing St. Henry starting pitcher Delzeith, and the scoring threat made him to hurl from the stretch position for nearly the entire inning.

“(Delzeith) was a different pitcher when he was forced to come in from the stretch,” Dages said.

After Gerut Monigold’s triple:

—Grady Monigold launched a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Gerut.

—Griffin Monigold lined a single to left.

—Jonah Yoder hit an RBI double, scoring Griffin Monigold (game tied at 2-2).

—Andre Yoder had an 11-pitch at-bat against Delzeith and won the battle with a double over left-fielder Hudson Schmitz’s head. Hiland took the lead 3-2.

—Mike Miller launched a triple to right field, expanding the advantage to 4-2. St. Henry replaced Delzeith with Schmitz on the mound.

—Logan Yoder was hit by a pitch.

—Isaiah Wagler walked.

—Christian Mullet’s single scored Miller. It was 5-2 Hiland.

—Gerut Monigold, batting for the second time in the inning, singled home Logan Yoder. The Hawks led 6-2.

The 12 Hiland hitters in the fourth inning accounted for seven hits and six runs. For the day, right-fielder Gerut Monigold went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Third baseman Jonah Yoder went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Miller's gem

After that, Mike Miller was on cruise control. Mixing an occasional change-up and curve with his 85-mph fastball, Miller gave up only two hits in the final three innings of work. He finished the day facing 31 batters and hurling 105 pitches, 75 of them strikes, and fanned 15 St. Henry batters while allowing just two walks. He raised his record to 8-0 for the season with the win.

“Michael has been doing that all year for us,” Dages said. “He’s our workhorse, our bulldog.”

Dages said the 105 pitches were the most Miller has hurled all season in a single game. “But he won’t have any more games to throw,” the coach said.

Only one of the two runs off Miller was earned.

Griffin Monigold called an excellent game behind the plate. Miller also tossed out three batters who made sacrifice bunts, meaning he was involved directly in 18 of the 21 putouts in the contest.

Praise from St. Henry

St. Henry coach Mike Gast admitted his team faced a daunting challenge going up against the Hawks.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task going against a three-time defending state champion,” he said. “(Hiland) is a really good hitting team, and they began finding some barrels. It was a battle to the very end. At the end we kept chipping away, so I’m very proud of (my team).

“Obviously, we knew they are very good. There were a couple of plays our outfielders probably would like back, but it’s a big, deep park and a long way to run.”

St. Henry finished the season at 26-4 and brought a 13-game winning streak into the state semifinal contest. It marked the seventh time the Redskins advanced to the semifinals.

Going for the four-peat

The victory advances Hiland to the state championship game against Lake Central Christian Friday at 10 a.m. in Akron. No one could have imagined back in early 2023 that 3 1/2 years later Hiland would be on the verge of winning four consecutive state titles.

“We are thinking about (a four-peat). We thought we had the horses to do it, and (the players) have proven us right. We’ve had an unbelievable run so far. Hopefully, we can carry it into one more game.”

Last year’s state title game is still fresh on the minds of both Dages and Shane Byler, coach of Lake Center Christian.

“They are a very good team. They are well coached, and they have a lot of good ball players,” Dages said.

He said he believes his eight seniors are providing both leadership and on-the-field excellence that’s helping Hiland return to the title contest.

“As soon as the (regular) season ends, I tell the guys — with the seniors (going) out the door — ‘We haven’t done anything yet.’ We’ve got to put the work in,” Dages said. "They have. They want to see that success continue.”