Prep Baseball Report

2021 OHSAA Tournament: Division III State Semifinal - No. 22 Archbold vs No. 4 Canton Central Catholic


Dylan Hefflinger and Bruce Hefflinger
PBR Ohio Editor in Chief/NW Scout and Senior Writer

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2021 OHSAA Tournament: Division III State Semifinal - No. 22 Archbold vs No. 4 Canton Central Catholic

AKRON - Jayden Seiler turned 16-years-old on Thursday.

The celebration took place on Friday when the Archbold freshman threw a three-hitter to shut out Canton Central Catholic 1-0 in the Division III state semifinals at Canal Park in Akron

The number two hurler on the Blue Streaks retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced to help Archbold advance to the state finals on Sunday at 10 a.m. against Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy.

Scoreless through four innings, Archbold pushed across the only run of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Krayton Kern hit a one-out double to left-center field and, after a pop out, three-hole hitter DJ Newman came through with a run-scoring single to right.

That was enough for Seiler, a freshman right-hander who allowed only four baserunners in the complete-game effort.

The only CCC threat came in the third when Ethan Lyke singled to left, advanced to second on a wild pitch and, after a strikeout, went to third on a fly out to right. Following a walk to Mason Vance, Seiler got out of the first-and-third situation with a fly ball to left.

Eric Baum was the hard-luck loser for the fourth-rated team in the state, permitting one run on seven hits without walking a batter.

Newman and Caleb Hogrefe had a single and double apiece for the 22nd-ranked D-III squad in Ohio, which left seven runners on base in the contest.

HOT TAKES

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Permitting just batters to reach base in the game makes Seiler the obvious choice in this game. The Archbold ninth-grader struck out six and walked just one in shutting down a 23-7 Canton Central Catholic team that had scored nearly seven runs a contest in the tournament. Seiler threw 87 pitches, 57 for a strike.

TOUGH DECISIONS: Coaching is far from easy. One day you look like a genius and the next there are questions. Rarely do coaches not use their staff ace in the state semifinals but Archbold coach Dick Selgo elected to hold back Newman and the move paid off with the performance of Seiler. That leaves Newman, the junior right-hander who played shortstop on Friday, available for Sunday’s battle with highly-regarded CHCA. ... Meanwhile, CCC decided to pitch to Newman in the bottom of the fifth with first base open and a runner on second and the top hitter on Archbold came through with a hit to drive in the lone run of the game.

REMATCH OF SORTS: The win kept Archbold unbeaten all-tat the state tournament. The only other trip to the Final Four came in 2005 when the Streaks nipped CHCA 7-6 in the Division III semifinals. Archbold went on to defeat Frankfort Adena 7-1 for the state title. Sunday’s matchup will mark the second championship game for CHCA which lost to Coldwater in the 2014 finals.

WHAT’S NEXT?: While Archbold moves on to the state title game with a 23-11 record, the Crusaders have the difficult task of replacing the top four batters in the lineup but do return the bottom five along with junior left-handed pitcher Gerry Johnson who did not bat but played left field against Archbold.

LiNESCORE

Canton Central Catholic  000 000 0 - 0 3 1
Archbold                           000 010 X - 1 7 1

Records: Archbold 23-11, Canton Central Catholic 23-7

Winning Pitcher: Jayden Seiler (7 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 6 strikeouts, 1 walks).

Losing Pitcher: Eric Baum (6 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, 0 strikeouts, 1 walks).

Leading Hitters: (Archbold) - Krayton Kern double; Gavin Bailey single; DJ Newman 2 singles; Caleb Hogrefe single, double. (Canton Central Catholic) - Mason Vance single; Ethan Lyke single.

2021 Spring High School Season Content

To view all things related to the 2021 Spring High School Baseball Season, click here.

To view the Tournament Scoreboard, click here.

To view the State Previews, click here.

To view the Regional Previews, click below:

To view the Weekly Team Rankings, click below:

To view the Preseason All-State Teams, click below:

To view the 2021 Ohio Spring Scout Blog, click below:

To view the 2021 PBR Ohio HS Teams of the Week, click below:

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