It’s the fourth straight league title for Fenwick, which is 19-6 overall after finishing 10-4 in the GCLC.
“It means a lot,” said senior center fielder Joe Sora, who singled twice, walked twice, scored twice and drove in two runs. “A lot of hard work … it’s just showing us that we grind a lot. It’s just fun.”
“It’s so wonderful,” added senior pitcher Drew O’Brien, who combined with Alan Nix for a two-hitter. “It’s amazing.”
Jared Kauffman plated three runs and Matt Davenport added two RBIs for the Falcons. Cameron Gallo had two hits and an RBI, and Jimmy Gephart and Alec Appel chipped in two hits apiece.
“We don’t really talk about winning the league that much,” Fenwick coach Pete Maus said. “I know the kids look at the banners when we’re inside. It’s something to look at before you come outside.
“I told the kids I’m proud of them because I think the league is as good as it’s been in a long time. We’ve got more things that we want to accomplish, but winning four titles in a row is something to be proud of.”
CJ is 15-6, 8-4, and can get a piece of the crown by winning its last two league games against Alter (Monday at home) and Roger Bacon (yet to be scheduled).
Friday’s performance didn’t leave CJ coach Mike Barhorst with many positive thoughts. He watched his team commit five errors, walk eight Falcons and fall behind 8-0 in the first three innings.
The Eagles were scheduled to host the game, but when they got to Howell Field on Friday afternoon, they discovered that it had been double-booked. So CJ came to Fenwick and played as the home team.
“I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. We were just very flat coming out,” said Barhorst, whose squad lost 6-0 on the Falcons’ diamond last Sunday. “There’s nothing you can say right now. They were the better team both times we played. We can still tie them for the league. We’re not done yet.”
The Falcons were on the bus getting ready to leave for Dayton when they were told to disembark.
“Confusion happened, and we had to get back off the bus and come back down here,” Sora said. “It was a little bit weird, but it was in our favor I think, so we were excited, pumped up and ready to get the win.”
Stephen Hoendorf launched a two-out double in the fourth and teammate Darian Jones added a two-out double in the fifth for the Eagles. Jones scored on an error.
Daniel Slaybaugh started and threw 2.2 innings for CJ, and he was charged with eight runs. The Eagles marked two errors on a pair of Fenwick bunts in a five-run second inning.
Joey Zavacky, Thomas Ellison and Shawn Steffan followed Slaybaugh to the hill, but CJ was never in the game.
“It was just a big letdown,” Barhorst said. “We’ve really only had one other game where we made that many mistakes, and we got blown out in that game (against Oakwood) too. We’re still a young team. We’ve got to deal with some ups and downs every once in a while.”
O’Brien retired the first 11 Eagles he faced and pitched six strong innings before Nix finished.
“I just throwing a curveball and fastball, just hitting spots, keeping the hitters off balance,” said O’Brien, who struck out one and had no walks. “I was trying real hard to go for a no-hitter and perfect game. It would’ve been fun, but when you give up two hits, it’s still a great game.”
The right-hander is Fenwick’s ace and pushed his record to 7-0. That’s a lot of wins in the regular season.
“I’ve got to give it to the team behind me,” O’Brien said. “If you go back to the McNick game, I gave up seven runs in the first inning and was going to get my first loss, but we came on through and prevailed and won that game, so that really got me where I am.”
Maus said O’Brien has gradually stepped up his mound game.
“I’ve got to give him a lot of credit,” Maus said. “In the course of two years, he’s matured and developed immensely as a pitcher. It’s something that our younger guys really need to take a look at, and we’ve talked to them about it.
“Last year at the beginning of the year, he threw in relief a lot. He was chasing strikeouts, chasing stats and getting deep into counts, and his pitch count was getting up where he wasn’t able to finish games. We challenged him to be more efficient. We don’t really talk about pitching to soft contact, but it’s good to force the issue and make them get themselves out, and he’s really done that.”
The Falcons’ bats produced 12 hits Friday. Appel and Keegan Corbett both scored three times, while Corbett drove in a run.
Fenwick has won five in a row and got the No. 2 seed in the Division II Dayton sectional voting (CJ is seeded first). If the seeds hold true, the Falcons will have to beat No. 15 Valley View and No. 5 Badin to get out of the sectional.
“I think it’s going to be fun if we can both get to that point,” Maus said of a third meeting with Badin — the teams split during the GCLC campaign. “Our first two games were intense games, and that’s what’s fun about high school baseball.
“I think if we come to play and have good approaches to doing things, it really doesn’t matter who we play … I think we’ll be in ballgames. I think we do things the right way, and we try to keep it really simple. I don’t think anybody needs to scout us a whole lot to understand what we do.”
Fenwick’s prom is Saturday, so the team won’t play again until traveling to Fairfield on Monday. CJ will visit Greenon on Saturday.
Fenwick 152-010-2—11-12-1
CJ 000-010-0—1-2-5
WP — Drew O’Brien (7-0); LP — Daniel Slaybaugh (3-2). Records: F 19-6, 10-4 GCLC North; C 15-6, 8-4 GCLC North
About the Author