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Ohio high school baseball score updates | Mason beats Twinsburg in OHSAA state finals

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Ohio high school baseball score updates | Mason beats Twinsburg in OHSAA state finals

The Twinsburg baseball team’s unexpected postseason run reached its conclusion Sunday afternoon in the Ohio High School Athletic Association state tournament. Unfortunately for the Tigers, didn’t end the way they wanted.

Mason broke things open late in the Division I state championship game at Canal Park, winning 8-1. Two days earlier, it was the Tigers coming up big late in a 4-1 win in the state semifinals over Olentangy Berlin. Sunday, it was Mason coming up with the clutch at-bats late.

Here’s how the game unfolded through our live updates.

Mason baseball wins OHSAA state championship

Twinsburg puts runners on in the bottom of seventh, but didn’t have a miraculous rally in it and Mason won the title game 8-1. The Tigers had runners on second and third when the game ended.

Twinsburg’s last chance comes against Mason in D-I state final

The Comets went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh. Mason leads 8-1 and its pitchers are throwing a two-hitter as we head to the bottom of the inning.

Twinsburg puts one on the scoreboard against Mason in state final

Jack Phillips, Josh Stalnaker and Kris Kimmel picked up one-out walks and Phillips came home on a wild pitch by Bryce Bannon. The Tigers leave them loaded. It’s now 8-1 Mason heading to the seventh inning.

Mason cruises in the sixth against Twinsburg

The Comets opened up an 8-0 advantage in the top of the sixth. Mark Rutherford highlighted the inning with a two-run single. He’s now 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Twinsburg strands opening base knock against Mason in D-I final

A.J. Teneja opened things with a base hit to right, but was stranded on second. The Tigers have two hits off Michael Bilo through five and trail 4-0.

Mason opens things up in Division I state final vs. Twinsburg baseball

The Comets picked up five straight singles from Brad Hart, Alex Koelling, Jake Henley, Drew Stevnes (2 RBIs) and Mark Rutherford (RBI) and lead 4-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth.

Twinsburg leaves runner on in bottom of the fourth against Mason

The Tigers got a leadoff walk from Jack Phillips but couldn’t move the runner and trail Mason 1-0. Of note, Michael Bilo threw over to first 13 times in an attempt to pick off Phillips. He came close maybe once.

A.J. Teneja saves a run for Twinsburg in state final against Mason

A sparkling play deep at short by A.J. Teneja saved a run and we head to the bottom of the fourth with the Comets up 1-0 .

Mason-Twinsburg heads to fourth with Comets up 1-0 in state final

Michael Bilo has struck out out four of the last six batter and sent down seven in a row. Mason holds a one-run lead and is coming to bat.

Mason goes in order in top of the third of state final vs. Twinsburg

Lucas Tinter has sent down six of the last seven through three. Jaden Dye tracked a deep fly to center by Indiana commit Jake Hanley to highlight a strong top of the third for Twinsburg. It’s 1-0 Mason.

Mason stays up top in D-I state final baseball against Twinsburg

George Mason commit Michael Bilo settled in to push thing to the third inning by inducing a groundout to first and ending the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. The Comets are up 1-0.

Mason goes up on Twinsburg in second inning of D-I state baseball final

Anthony Sulek opened the second inning with a single to right and came home on a two-out single to right off the bat of Casey Doner to put the Comets up 1-0 as the game heads into the bottom of the second inning.

Twinsburg-Mason baseball state final scoreless after one

Josh Stalnaker sent one back up the chute for a two-ouit single, but was stranded at first when Kris Kimmel flew out deep to left. It’s 0-0 heading to the second.

Twinsburg gets out of the top of the first unscathed in state final

Ohio State commit singled up the box to open the game, but Mason left a runner on second thanks to two infield putouts and a popout to A.J. Teneja. Tigers coming to bat 0-0.

Starting pitchers for Twinsburg-Mason Division I state final baseball championship game announced

As has been the case this postseason, Twinsburg will run with Lucas Tinter (6-1). Mason will run with George Mason commit Michael Bilo (5-2).

Bilo is coming off a no-hitter against reigning state champion Cincinnati Moeller in the regional final.

1 lf 16 B. Lemieux R
2 rf 3 J. Phillips R
3 dh 10 J. Stalnaker R
4 1b 27 K. Kimmel R
5 c 7 L. Conway R
6 ss 1 A. Taneja R
7 2b 32 J. Cox R
8 3b 35 K. Hoon R
9 cf 4 J. Dye R
1 2b 3 A. Koelling R
2 1b 34 J. Hanley R
3 3b 4 D. Stevens R
4 c 21 M. Rutherfor R
5 ss 2 A. Sulek R
6 lf 27 H. Crociata R
7 dh 24 J. Darst R
8 rf 9 C. Doner R
9 cf 1 B. Hart R
10 p 33 M. Bilo R

As if the Tigers reaching the Division I state final wasn’t enough, the story took another twist. Twinsburg has said all along that it’s getting help from late coach Jeff Luca, who died in a tragic car accident in December.

His influence may have reached the Division II level when West Branch beat Hamilton Badin 3-2 by scoring three runs in the last inning. Badin had not allowed a run the entire tournament and took a no-hitter into the sixth Sunday.

West Branch just happens to be the high school alma mater of Luca, who graduated from there in 1983.

A three-run sixth proved decisive in Twinsburg’s 4-1 win over Olentangy Berlin on Friday. Berlin had just tied the game 1-1 in the top of the sixth when the Tigers answered immediately in their half of the inning. They loaded the bases and then scored three runs when Jason Cox walked to force in a run, Kyler Hoon singled in a run and Jaden Dye hit a sacrifice fly.

Hoon also had an RBI single in the second inning to give Twinsburg the early 1-0 lead.

Twinsburg starter Josh Stalnaker (8-1) was the winning pitcher in his final start of the season. The right-hander struck out seven in a complete game, giving up four hits and walking two.

More on Twinsburg baseball: ‘We are the moment’: Twinsburg High School ready for OHSAA baseball state final Sunday

Throughout their run to the state tournament, thoughts of late head coach Jeff Luca are never far from the minds of the Twinsburg Tigers. Luca died in a car accident in December. A month later, former Twinsburg freshman coach Jim Lipinski returned to the program to be its head coach.

The Tigers dedicated their season to Luca and have gone on to win 23 games and make an unlikely tournament run, which his wife, Jen Luca, calls both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Twinsburg has reached the baseball state semifinals for the third time in school history, the others coming in 1990 and 2006. Each time the Tigers lost in the semifinals — 3-1 to Indian Valley in 1990 in Class AA and 7-2 to Olentangy in 2006 in Division I.

  • Kris Kimmel entered the state tournament with a team-best .386 batting average with nine doubles, three home runs, 29 RBIs and 24 runs. His two-run single in the top of the seventh helped the Tigers beat Hoban 7-5 in the district semis. He plays first base.
  • Josh Stalnaker entered the state tournament hitting .360 with eight doubles, two triples, one home run, 32 runs and 20 RBIs. As a pitcher, he is 8-1 after Friday’s win, with 77 strikeouts in 51 innings. The Ashland commit went 2-for-3 with two runs in the regional final win over Hoover after striking out 12 in a 5-0 win over Wooster in the regional semis. Stalnaker hit a two-run triple in the sixth to key their 3-0 win over Dover.
  • AJ Taneja delivered a pair of RBI singles against Hoover.
  • Lucas Tinter enters today’s state finals start at 6-1 with a 1.54 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 50 innings. He was the winning pitcher in both the 6-3 win over Hoover in the regional finals and the 3-0 win over Dover in the district finals. He allowed two runs on five hits in six innings against Hoover after throwing a three-hit shutout against Dover.

All state tournament games this year can watched on the NFHS Network and can be heard on the OHSAA Radio Network.

  • Twinsburg 4, Olentangy Berlin 1
  • Mason 1, Perrysburg 0
  • Division I State Championship: Twinsburg vs. No. 7 Mason, Sunday, June 9, 1 p.m.
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