Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

2015 OHSAA Division III 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 III - Region 9 - Massillon


#12 Youngstown Ursuline (16-5)

Final Regular Season Rank: #12
Preseason Rank: NR

Postseason History: Fifth straight district title. 11 district championships in the 18 years Sean Durkin has been head coach.

Season Info: Ursuline sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning of the district semifinals and 13 to bat in the opening frame of the district finals.

2015 Top Players: Joel Hake threw a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts in the district semifinals. Hake,a four-year starter who is a commit to Youngstown State University, is 4-0 on the season.

Vinnie Lacente threw 5-hitter in the district finals, surviving a 3-run top of the first.

Alex Schlosser had two hits and 3 RBIs in the district final

Vito Penza had two hits and 2 RBIs in the district final

Akron Manchester (14-15)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Tournament Info: Sophomore Dalton Earich threw a no-hitter in the district finals. Junior Caleb Johnston drove in two runs in the district semifinals.

#11 Gilmour Academy (20-4)

Final Regular Season Rank: #11
Preseason Rank: NR

#10 Canton Central Catholic (22-6-1)

Final Regular Season Rank: #10
Preseason Rank: #2

Division III - Region 10 - Elida


Liberty Union (15-14)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Postseason History: District, Regional, State championships/appearances First district title in 21 years. Last year lost 5-4 in 10 innings to Marion Elgin in district finals.

Tournament Info: David Smith allowed one run on two hits in six innings of the district title game.

#14 Genoa Area (23-3)

Final Regular Season Rank: #14
Preseason Rank: NR

Team Info: Ron Rightnower, fourth season at Genoa 75-31. 164 stolen bases in 26 games caught 16 times.

Top Players:

  • Senior catcher Nick Wolfe .465, 26 RBIs, 32 stolen bases
  • Senior pitcher/center fielder Luke Rightnowar, 8-1, 1.65 ERA, 38 Ks, 55 innings. 25-4 in career breaking school record for wins. Is also career scoring leader at school in basketball.
  • Senior center fielder/pitcher Jake Wojciechowki, .481, 20 RBIs, 19 stolen bases, 4-1 pitching 2.12 ERA, 44 Ks, 33 inninngs
  • Senior third baseman/pitcher Kyle Edwards, .444, 14 RBIs, 21 stolen bases, 4-0 pitching 2.80 ERA
  • Senior right fielder/pitcher Matt Aumiller .348, 18 RBIs, 19 stolen bases, 4-1 pitching, 2.80 ERA

Van Wert (20-8)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Huron (21-5)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Division III - Region 11 - Chillicothe


Marion Pleasant (19-9)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Postseason History: 7th district time in 15 years but first since 2010

Season Info: Head coach Chris Kunns is 388-153 in 20 years at Pleasant and had 470 overall wins. Plesaant was a four-seed

Top Players: Zach Pytiarz is 11-1 on the mound, and was the winning pitcher in both district games. Bryce McDonald is the other top pitcher for Pleasant. Catcher Anson James missed 10 games with a broken hand but returned for the district final.

#20 Albany Alexander (24-4)

Final Regular Season Rank: #20
Preseason Rank: NR

West Lafayette Ridgewood (20-7)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: NR

Postseason History: Second regional appearance in three years under head coach Chad Lahna. Ridgewood lost to Wheelersburg 4-0 in regional finals two years ago.

2015 Season Info: Caleb Tingle pitched on two days rest, threw an eight-hitter in district championship.

#1 Wheelersburg (24-1)

Final Regular Season Rank: #1
Preseason Rank: #24

Postseason History: Eighth straight district title

2015 Season Info: Wade Martin, who as a freshman was two outs from a perfect game in the 2012 state championship game against Lima Central Catholic, retired the first 20 batters (16 on strikeouts) in a 3-0 win in the district finals. After allowing two hits and with the tying run at the plate, Martin picked off the runner on second for the final out.

Zach Russell threw a 3-hitter in the district semifinals

In addition to being the top pitcher, Wade Martin had a double and triple and scored three runs in the district semis.

Division III - Region 12 - Xenia


#6 Waynesville (25-5)

Final Regular Season Rank: #6
Preseason Rank: #6

#19 Anna (24-6)

Final Regular Season Rank: #19
Preseason Rank: NR

Summit Country Day (15-12)

Final Regular Season Rank: NR
Preseason Rank: #18

#2 CHCA (26-3)

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

Team Info:

  • Outscored their opponents 281-64 on the year
  • On a 22 game winning streak
  • Won the MVC for the 12th consecutive year.
  • 3rd consecutive trip to Regionals
  • State Final Four 2005, State Finals 2014
  • District Champions 2015, 2014, 2013, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2003
  • MVC Champions 2004-current

Offensively the Eagle are hitting a robust .393 as a team while scoring 281 runs: Here is a look at the hitters for CHCA:

PLAYER G AB RUNS HITS 2B 3B HR RBI SB OBP AVG
Cayse Osborne 5 5 5 3 0 0 0 3 0 0.714 0.600
Cameron Murray 29 89 43 44 9 5 0 27 23 0.573 0.494
Chase Murray 29 82 35 36 5 5 1 33 16 0.537 0.439
Daniel Vezdos 27 58 24 25 5 0 0 15 9 0.520 0.431
Griffan Smith 5 5 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0.500 0.400
Ryan Smith 29 73 33 29 2 0 0 22 16 0.549 0.397
Jack Vezdos 24 54 21 21 3 1 0 18 2 0.452 0.389
David Jung 20 13 4 5 1 0 0 3 0 0.500 0.385
Johnny Noyen 29 69 24 26 3 1 0 23 8 0.477 0.377
Jon Edelmann 28 69 16 26 7 0 0 21 4 0.442 0.377
Graham Lally 26 67 17 25 2 3 1 21 3 0.439 0.373
Nick Noyen 5 6 5 2 0 0 0 2 1 0.636 0.333
Nick Harker 29 85 24 28 4 0 0 23 3 0.424 0.329
Bernie Tippen 23 40 16 13 0 0 0 15 1 0.420 0.325

On the mound, the Eagles have a team ERA of 1.84 while striking out 139 in 179 innings. Here is a look at the arms for CHCA:

PLAYER G IP W L SV K SHO WHIP ERA
Bernie Tippen 1 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 1.52 0.00
Jack Vezdos 5 9.2 1 0 0 6 0 0.72 0.00
Tommy Yates 9 34.1 7 0 1 47 5 0.50 0.41
Daniel Vezdos 8 47.2 8 0 0 32 1 1.15 1.32
Johnny Noyen 7 37.1 5 1 0 22 1 1.18 1.88
David Jung 11 16.2 2 1 4 15 1 1.38 2.10
Griffan Smith 1 6.0 1 0 0 3 0 1.00 2.33
Graham Lally 6 26.2 2 1 0 14 1 1.61 4.99

A few quotes from assistant coach Nick Rosenfeldt:

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

Coach Rosenfeldt: We have had to discover our identity after losing two quality pitchers last season. Coming into the season the big question was: can we learn how to win without our two #1 pitchers? It took us a few games to get it together, but we have learned that we have quality pitchers who know how to win. While we do not have guys that are throwing 90+ (not many teams do), we play outstanding defense and are aggressive with opposing hitters. With returning seven starters from last year we are right where we expect to be.

Our team has completely bought in to Coach Keith???s philosophy of playing for runs early, and doing whatever we need to to put pressure on opposing teams through aggressive, smart, fundamental baseball. We run, we bunt, we move runners, we squeeze; we have players with speed, we have players with power. We have three of the best outfield arms in the state, and perhaps the best thing is that we have tough, unselfish players who put the team first.

PBR: Thoughts on your program advancing to regionals?

Coach Rosenfeldt: We expect to advance to regionals every year. We are excited for another trip to AIA in Xenia.

PBR: Thoughts on your regional field?

Coach Rosenfeldt: We have a tremendous amount of respect for the three other teams in our region. We have had success against Summit Country Day this year, but we expect them to play very well on Thursday, and we have great respect for their #1 pitcher Connor McMurry. Even though he is only a sophomore, he has great velocity and very good off-speed pitches. We are looking forward to the challenge.

As far as the other two teams, we know Waynesville is an outstanding pitching and hitting team (one we barely defeated in a walk-off on May 9) and Anna from what we can tell is an excellent team also. We are focused on Thursday only as of now, and will look forward to Friday if/when we get there.

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

Coach Rosenfeldt: Our team captains (SR Dan Vezdos, SR Cam Murray and JR Chase Murray) have been the glue that has held this team together this season. They have led this team in every way possible, in many ways the coaches know about and probably many more that we don???t know about. Having great leaders on a team makes it very easy on a coaching staff, and we have some of the best team leaders in the state.

PBR: Is there anything of interest worth mentioning about your tournament run thus far (no-hitters, key hits, outstanding performances, comebacks etc)?

Coach Rosenfeldt: We have certainly seen more quality opponents and players than expected so far in the tournament. The past few years we have had a fairly easy first round match-up, but this year we played a great hitting and pitching team in Clinton Massie right out of the gate. We followed that up with a 17-win team in Williamsburg (who had an impressive pitcher in Zach Ward) and then had to face a tough Reading team, who saved their #1 pitcher Logan Barron for us. Barron had outstanding statistics this year and posed a significant challenge, but our guys have played tough, fundamental baseball the past few weeks.

We get everyone???s best, and we wouldn???t have it any other way. We expect to get Summit???s best on Thursday, and should we get to Friday, we definitely expect to get Waynesville or Anna???s best. This is what playoff baseball is about: playing your best at the most important time of the year. We are looking forward to it.

    Top Headlines for the Buckeye State