They will also be bidding to add a baseball state championship to the title they won in basketball in March.
“This group of boys, they’re winners,” Russia coach Kevin Phlipot said. “I don’t care what sport it is, okay? They find a way to compete. They find a way to win, and that just says a lot.
“I don’t care what they’re doing. They’re successful at everything. They know what adversity is, and they know how to overcome those obstacles. And you get performances, you get days like this.”
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Credit: Marcus Hartman
His group put the game away with a six-run fourth after scoring two in the second and three in the third.
Senior outfielder Micah Grieshop had two hits for Russia, including a single with the bases loaded that scored two in the third inning, and junior pitcher Maddox Goubeaux allowed one hit as Russia found all sorts of ways to score against an Indians team that was playing in its first regional final since 1991.
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Credit: Marcus Hartman
The Raiders took advantage of a dropped third strike, a hit-by-pitch, an error and a steal of home when Cedarville pitcher Xavier Pauling stopped paying attention to Zeb Schultze on third after a walk.
“We caught a big break with the first two runs, but then at the same time you make your own breaks,” Phlipot said. “Because we were relentless. We put the balls in play. I mean doing the little things. And we got enough guys on bases, we’re taking extra bases. And then we did a better job of putting balls in the gap, hitting line drives up middle, that type of thing.”
The game ended Cedarville’s charmed run on a rainy afternoon at Yellow Jacket Field on the campus of Cedarville University — across the street from the Indians’ home base.
“Baseball is funny,” Cedarville coach Trevor Creeden said. “It’s a game that can turn on a few mistakes — booting the ball around — and it did today. Xavier pitched well, but they put the bat to the ball a couple times in key situations, and we just couldn’t get out of a couple of innings when we needed to.”
While Creeden praised his team for playing clean baseball in 2-0 upset of Fort Loramie in the district final last week and a 7-1 victory over Fayetteville-Perry on Wednesday, that is not what he saw from his team Thursday.
The Raiders scored their first two runs on a dropped popup in the infield with two outs in the second inning, and a dropped line drive in center field figured prominently in the six-run fourth.
“We knew coming in it was going to be a close, low-scoring battle,” Creeden said. “When we made our first error that would have gotten us out of that second inning, I feel like the guys got less confident that, ‘Oh, man, now we have to overcome that,’ and then they played tighter.
“And there’s just mistakes that we haven’t made for a month. We played pretty clean baseball for a month.”
First baseman Jacob Lide, one of only two seniors on the Cedarville roster, broke up the no-hitter with a solid shot into left field with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, but the Raiders got to Pauling for 11 runs — four earned — on five hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Credit: Marcus Hartman
While Cedarville was in its fourth regional final and bidding for its second state tournament appearance, the Raiders earned their seventh trip to the state semifinals (’71, ’75, 2017, ’22, ’23 and ’24).
“Midseason, we struggled,” said Russia senior Braylon Cordonnier, who starred on the basketball team but has proclaimed baseball his first love and excels at both shortstop and on the mound. “Then at the end of the season we struggled, and there were some doubts. Like, ‘When are we going to start hitting? When are we going to start pitching? When’s it all going to come together? Well, now it’s finally starting to come together at the right time.”
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Credit: Marcus Hartman
The first Division VII state semifinal is set for June 12 at Canal Park in Akron with the second to take place at 4.
The Division VII state championship will be played at 10 a.m. June 14.
With most of his team set to return next season, Creeden hopes this season is one to build on for the Indians, who last went to the state tournament in 1945.
“I’m glad I have the time with many of these guys to help them continue to play together, continue to understand the game better and just improve and get stronger,” Creeden said. “And, you know, the ceiling is high for this team, and we’re looking forward to the next couple years, especially with the pitching.”
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