Waynedale baseball gearing up for another lengthy postseason run

Waynedale’s baseball team headed into the 2025 season looking to make it four consecutive trips to the state final four. Nothing the Golden Bears have done so far this season makes that seem any less likely than the first three.

Heading into action on May 14, the Golden Bears were 19-1 overall and perfect through 12 Wayne County Athletic League contests. They had already wrapped up the conference championship, with a three-game lead over Norwayne and Hillsdale and two games to play.

For good measure, Waynedale also sat atop the Division V state rankings, with 18-of-19 first-place votes. The other first-place nod went to Coldwater.

“A big part of it is definitely just having talented baseball players and good athletes and supportive families,” Waynedale coach Lucas Daugherty said of the key to his team’s season, which has extended its run of major success to four years. “It’s just a mix of playing at a high level and having that expectation and enjoying the game of baseball and just wanting to be on the baseball field.”

The Golden Bears’ lone loss was at the hands of Canton GlenOak, a 2-1 setback on May 9. Beginning with back-to-back games against Hillsdale on May 14 and 15 to close out the conference schedule, Waynedale had just five regular-season games remaining. That included battles on May 16 with Uniontown Lake and the following day with Div. I state power Lakewood St. Edward.

The latter game is part of a Prep Baseball Report event. His team was originally scheduled to play Hiland in the event, but Daugherty asked if that could be changed since the Golden Bears already had a game scheduled with the Hawks.

“They asked me if I cared who I play, and I said not really,” Daugherty said. “We ended up with St. Ed’s. We’re looking forward to playing them.”

The Golden Bears are hoping to add their third state title in four seasons, joining the 2022 and ’23 clubs among those that have reached the top of the hill.

Waynedale, top-seeded among four Northeast Ohio districts, will begin another anticipated postseason with a May 23 home game against No. 30 East Cleveland Shaw. The winner will play No. 23 Columbiana Crestview or No. 24 Burton Berkshire in a May 28 district semifinal.

The Golden Bears would play in a May 30 district final at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton. The top seed in the other half of the bracket is No. 9 Akron Manchester. With the Ohio High School Athletic Association adding two divisions this year, things don’t look that much different from Waynedale’s point of view.

“It seems like our size of school doesn’t see as much change other than the number that goes with the division,” said Daugherty, whose team moved from Div. III to Div. V. “A lot of the same teams are in our division that have been the last couple years.”

While current seniors Shane Coblentz and Tristan Franks were in the dugout for the Bears’ state title run in 2022, they weren’t active participants. That the team has turned over entirely during the stretch and is still a favorite to win a state title is extremely impressive.

Also part of that senior class are Jaden Schlabaugh and Josh Yoder. Yoder missed all of last year with a torn ACL. The center fielder is second on the team in hitting this season.

“It’s pretty cool having him back, and he’s having a really successful season,” Daugherty said.

Other key players include juniors Jordan Miller and Brayden Steiner, each of whom saw some time as freshmen before becoming more mainstays last season.

With success breeding success, everyone wants to keep it going.

“I think, especially this year, we can see this with our senior group. They’ve been to the state tournament three times. Whether they were on JV that year or not, they’ve been a part of it,” Daugherty said. “They’ve seen how fun that part of the year is and seen the work it takes to get back there. Having been there before and tasting it a little bit, it makes it more motivating to put in the work.”