A Dominating Finish

Minster shuts out Newark Catholic for fourth state baseball title

AKRON - It didn't matter when Minster was going to play on Saturday.

The Wildcats were focused on a championship.

Caleb Couse and James Niemeyer combined on a five-hit shutout as Minster used a five-run second inning to set the tone and give the Wildcats their fourth state baseball title in school history with an 8-0 win over Newark Catholic in the Division VII state championship game at Canal Park in Akron. The title is the 43rd state title for Minster and 152nd in Midwest Athletic Conference history.

Minster ends the season at 26-6 as the Green Wave fall to 21-10.

'They're all special," said Minster head coach Mike Wiss, who picked up his 551st career win at his alma mater. "I don't put one ahead of the other, but when you have your son out there (starting shortstop Andrew, who went 3-for-4 on the game), it's a little bit different."

The teams had to wait to get their chance to play. Overnight rain did not dissipate until noontime when the tarp was finally pulled off of the field. The first pitch took place at 1:20 p.m., over three hours from the original start time of 10 a.m.

"We talked about the six inches between our ears and how strong we had to be today," said coach Wiss. "If the weather came back, 'tarp on, tarp off' might happen. These guys a pretty resilient. I'm proud of them."

After getting a hit in a scoreless first, Minster went to work on Green Wave pitcher Max Moore in the second. Ian Homan and Rylan Edwards drew back-to-back walks. Jace Hemmelgarn grounded between first and second, but the throw to get the force was wild, allowing Homan to score. Andrew Wiss followed with a perfect bunt down the first base line for a single to load the bases. Moore got the first out when Connor Schmiesing popped up to third base, but Dylan Heitkamp walked to bring home Edwards for the second run. Reese Beair then hit an infield single in the no-man's land between first and second to bring home another run. Mikey Hess came on in relief and struck out Louis Magoto before James Niemeyer belted a single to score two more runs to make it 5-0 and bring Homan back to the plate. The chance to keep the inning going ended with Homan hitting into a fielder's choice.

"Our approach to the plate was 'middle oppo,' " said Wiss, meaning middle of the plate to the opposite field. "If we weren't going to see somebody who was mid-upper 80s that was going to throw it by us, we had to stay back (in the box), keep the back shoulder up, drive through the baseball and let it travel and go oppo. We had 10 hits and seven or eight of them were middle oppo."

Newark Catholic tried to answer in the bottom of the second as Malone Hutchison led off with a walk. Owen Przymierski hit into a fielder's choice for the first out, but Hal Gillespie singled to put runners on the corners. Couse got a strikeout for the second out, but Chris Garber walked to load the bases for Jaxon Holman. Couse dug deep and got the strikeout to leave the bases loaded.

In the third, Couse got the first out, but walked Alex Nagel and gave up a single to Miller Hutchison to again have runners on the corners, but Heitkamp came up with a great throw to catch Hutchison trying to steal second for out number two, then Malone Hutchison grounded out to second to end another threat.

"I told the guy from the OHSAA (radio network) what Bobby Knight used to say: victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes," said coach Wiss. "That's pretty much (the story of) our tournament run."

"It put a lot of relief on me," said Couse about pitching with the lead. "I knew my defense behind me. After we were up five, coach told me not to be afraid of letting them hit it. That's what I did and the team had my back."

Hess slowed the Minster offense, retiring six straight before Heitkamp singled with two out in the fourth. Magoto followed with a single of his own to put runners at first and third for Niemeyer, but Hess enticed a deep fly to right for a loud out.

The defense continued to work for Minster in the fourth. Magoto made a diving stop of a Przymierski grounder and threw to Homan at first for the bang-bang out. Gillespie lofted a deep fly that Schmiesing easily got under and snagged. Couse did some cleanup work himself with snagging a bouncer by Moore and throwing to first to end the inning.

Minster tagged on two more runs in the top of the fifth. Homan and Edwards drew walks. After a fielder's choice, Andrew Wiss singled to bring up Schmiesing, who singled to left to score Edwards and Hemmelgarn before Hess got two straight flyouts to center to end the threat.

Couse retired six straight until Hess hit a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth. Couse quickly halted any thoughts of a Wave rally with a strikeout to end the inning.

Minster added a run in the sixth when Magoto scored on an Edwards sacrifice fly.

Couse gave the Wildcats five strong innings, scattering two hits and three walks with six strikeouts as Niemeyer came on to pitch the sixth. The Wave picked up two hits, but the Wildcats left them stranded.

All that remained was the final three outs. Niemeyer struck out Chris Garber for the first out and enticed Holman to ground to Magoto for the second out. Hess stepped in and worked the count to 3-2 before lofting a fly ball. Couse, now playing in right field, snagged it easily to start the celebration on the field.

"We told Caleb we needed to shorten his game to five innings or two times through the order," said coach Wiss. "Get us there with the lead and turn it over to James. That's exactly how it turned out."