Road to the State Title: OHSAA Baseball

AKRON, Ohio — June baseball always feels different.

The air gets heavier. The dugouts grow quieter between innings. Every pitch suddenly carries the weight of an entire season.

For Columbus Academy, the road to the state championship began Thursday afternoon against Liberty-Benton with a chance to keep one of the program’s most memorable seasons alive.

Columbus Academy vs. Liberty-Benton: Columbus Academy Continues Its Tournament Run

CANTON, Ohio — The deeper teams advance in June, the less the moment seems to speed them up.

That composure showed itself repeatedly Thursday morning at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium as Columbus Academy defeated Liberty-Benton 5-2 in the Division V state semifinal, punching its ticket to the state championship game for the first time since 2003.

For a program that entered state tournament play at .500, the Vikings continue to look nothing like an underdog. Instead, Columbus Academy has become one of the hottest teams remaining in Ohio baseball, extending its winning streak to seven games with another poised postseason performance on the state’s biggest stage.

Columbus Academy senior Dominic Dunkle slides into home plate after a wild pitch.

After a scoreless opening inning, Columbus Academy gradually took control behind timely hitting, clean defensive play, and steady pitching throughout the middle innings. Academy got on the board first as senior Cooper Leibas drove in 2 runs for the Vikings at the top of the 3rd inning. Leibas also pitched the full 7 innings only allowing 2 runs on 6 hits. All together the Vikings tallied 12 hits in the ball game that led to their 5 runs.

Liberty-Benton entered the game at 22-5 and was making the first state semifinal appearance in program history after winning district and regional championships for the first time. The heavy hitting of 3rd baseman, Zach Elchert, and catcher, Kooper Leatherman, had their moments, but ultimately fell a little short to translate into runs. The Eagles faithful went quiet for most of the outing being down early. However, when the program’s season was on the line in the bottom of the 7th, the crowds of blue shirts stood up and cheered their team to finish. Seemingly at first as a last hoorah, the energy from the Liberty Benton supports spread to the field and dugout. The Eagles were able to slowly get base runners. Down 5-2 with only 1 out, all of the sudden Liberty Benton had the winning run at the plate with the bases loaded. How quickly tensions and momentum can change.

Nevertheless, Leibas was able to regain composure. Once he was able to get ahead in the count the advantage and momentum swung back to the Vikings. The Columbus Academy dugout maintained steady energy and Leibas fittingly earned his 9th strikeout to close out the victory after an amazing performance on the mound.

The win extends Columbus Academy’s miraculous tournament run and sends the program to the Division V state championship game. Now, the Vikings will turn their attention toward Friday’s state final matchup against the winner of Lucasville Valley and Apple Creek Waynedale.

For a team that entered late May on a 5 game losing streak, Columbus Academy is now one win away from completing one of the most unexpected runs in Ohio high school baseball this season.