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2015 OHSAA Division II Regional Preview

May 28, 2015

By Dylan Hefflinger
Ohio Editor in Chief/NW Scout

PBR Ohio has all of your high school baseball coverage across the state covered.

To view the Regional Brackets please click on the division below.
Division I
Division II
Division III
Division IV
Entire Tournament Bracket

Take a look at the 2014 State Final Four Roundup:
Division I
Division II
Division III
Division IV

Visit our scout blog, which includes velocity, pop times and in-depth scouting reports. The blog will be updated throughout the entire spring, with information on top prospects and top performances, click here.

To view the 2015 Team Rankings, click here.

To view the 2015 Preseason All-State Teams, click here.

To discuss this game, please visit our partner JJHuddle.

Interested in attending a PBR Ohio event? Check out our schedule by clicking here.

** Will be updated throughout the day

Division II - Region 5 - Hudson


Ashtabula Edgewood (13-12)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

#24 Canton South (22-6)

Final Regular Season Rank: #24
Preseason Rank: NR

Tallmadge (14-14)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

#2 Poland Seminary (25-2)

Final Regular Season Rank: #2
Preseason Rank: NR

Division II - Region 6 - Bowling Green


#3 Defiance (24-5)

Final Regular Season Rank: #3
Preseason Rank: #2

Defiance offense is hitting a robust .323 as a team. Here is a statistical look at the Bulldogs offense:

Player                  AVG  AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR RBI   TB  SLG%  BB HBP  OB%  SF  SH SB-ATT 

Smiddy,Shay.......  .384   73    24  28   4   1   3   20    43   .589      18   4    .515    2    3    8-9
Sierra,Garrett......  .369   103   36  38   9   0   1   17    50   .485      10   1    .430    0    2    7-7 
Weaver,Tyler....... .363    80    15   29   6   0   0   28    35   .438      12   7     .475    2    2    4-5
Frederick,Braden... .327   55    21  18   0   0   0    7    18   .327       5     7    .435    2    6    8-13
Bauer,Jimmy........ .317   82    15  26   7   3   0   20    39   .476       7    1    .374    1    4    6-8
Borton,Bryce........  .316   76    17  24   5   0   2   14    35   .461       6    4   .395    0    4    8-9
Detter,Wes..........  .311   61    13  19   3   0   0   10    22   .361       8    0    .386    1    4    5-7
Castillo,Ty.........    .300   30     8     9   3   1   1    7    17   .567       7    0    .410    2    2    2-4 
Cordray,Gage......   .296   81    21  24   7   0   0   14    31   .383      12   4    .404    2    1   12-12 
Stykemain,Connor. .264   53    17  14   1   0   0   10    15   .283      13   3     .429    1    1    8-8

As with most Defiance teams, their strength is on the mound and with the 1-2 punch of Shay Smiddy (pictured left) and Michael Hendricks this year is no different. As a team, Defiance has an ERA of 1.37 while striking out 194 in 199 innings.

Here is a look at the Bulldog arms:

Player                   ERA   W-L  APP GS CG SV IP  H  R   ER  BB  SO 

Smiddy,Shay.........  0.38   9-1   13   6   4    2   55.0  32   5   3  16  68 
Hendricks,Michael..  1.01   5-1   13  10   2   0   48.2  32  21   7  17  54   
Smith,Abram.........  1.60   4-1   12   3   0    1   30.2  23  12   7  17  31  
Sierra,Garrett......     3.35   3-1    7   5   1    0   31.1  30  22  15  10  22  
Frederick,Braden....  1.99   2-1    7   4   1    0  24.2   21  11   7   10  14


A few quotes from Defiance head coach Tom Held.

PBR: Talk about your team's development from last summer, winter or the beginning of the season to now in late May.

Coach Held: This team has had the goal of getting back to the Sweet 16 since our lost to Bryan a year ago.  We had a very good summer in 2014 by winning the ACME state tourney over a very good Perrysburg team. We are senior dominated so we new we had the experience to get back.  Miami (OH) commit Michael Hendricks has been the key to our 1-2 punch on the hill to go along with Louisville commit Shay Smiddy.  We really believe that we haven???t played our best baseball yet.

PBR: Thoughts on your program advancing to regionals?

Coach Held: It is very exciting to have the opportunity to be back in the Regionals. There are 4 quality teams playing for a chance to get to the Final Four. We are really excited about playing in Bowling Green. This is much closer for our fans to attend the games.

PBR: Thoughts on your regional field?

Coach Held: This is a very good field. Bath might be the surprise team from the outside, but we played them last summer and I thought they would be in the top 5 of our league this year. They gave us that first league loss this year and I was very impressed with what I saw out of them on that day. Holy Name has been a team that seems to be playing in the Sweet 16 every year so we know they can play. Bellevue is the new team from our standpoint, but I have know Andy since he was at Fremont and I know what a quality coach he is. Bellevue has tradition and has produced a lot of great players such as Brad and Ben Snyder.

PBR: Talk about the leaders on your team and what they have meant. 

Coach Held: Our 10 seniors have been absolutely great!  We stumbled in league early in the season and dropped 3 out of 4 in one stretch. I felt the seniors were able to keep their heads and keep plugging away.  This group is the closest group we have had since the 2002 team.

Lima Bath (14-14)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

#17 Bellevue (23-4)

Final Regular Season Rank: #17
Preseason Rank: NR

Parma Heights Holy Name (18-9)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Division II - Region 7 - Zanesville


#21 Dover (24-5)

Final Regular Season Rank: #21
Preseason Rank: NR

Postseason History: District, Regional, State championships/appearances: Dover met Steubenville in last year's regional, winning 7-1.

Season Info: Keaton Lahmers tossed a 2-hitter in the district finals.

#13 Steubenville (23-5)

Final Regular Season Rank: #13
Preseason Rank: #14

Postseason History: District, Regional, State championships/appearances: 22nd district title

Big Walnut (20-9)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Postseason History: District, Regional, State championships/appearances: First district title since 1974.

Season Info: Beat New Albany 6-5 in 22 innings in the longest game in state history, a game that was played on three days, finishing up on May 7.

Top Players: Freshman Austin Becker (pictured right) threw a two-hitter in the district championship game with five strikeouts. The right-hander, who came on in relief with the bases loaded in the sixth inning of a tournament game with defending D-III state champion Bloom-Carroll, is 9-0 on the season.

Nick Moser had four stolen bases in the sectional final.

Tommy Fleser, pitching in his first outing in three weeks due to back issues, no-hit Bloom-Carroll for five innings in a district semifinal win.

Pomeroy Meigs (17-9)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Postseason History: District, Regional, State championships/appearances: Marauders had not won a district title since 1986. The previous district championship came in 1976.

Season Info: A #7 seed, Meigs, has four straight upset wins, beating #1 seed Minford, #2 Jackson and #5 Sheridan. A five-run fifth rallied Meigs from a 3-1 deficit in the district finals against Minford, winning despite being outhit 9-5. Meigs, which started the season 0-4 and 0-2 in league play, shared the Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division title.

Top Players: Senior right-hander Cameron Matter threw a complete game in winning the district finals while also adding a pair of hits.

Division II - Region 8 - Fairborn


Bellbrook (21-7)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Bishop Fenwick (18-12)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: #23

Archbishop McNicholas (20-8)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

#19 Bishop Watterson (22-8)

Final Regular Season Rank: #19
Preseason Rank: #10

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