'Special moment'

ST. HENRY - Past and present St. Henry baseball players celebrated their coach.

And the 'Skins celebrated one last victory in the John Dorner era.

In his final game as St. Henry's skipper, Dorner saw his team crank out its best hitting performance of the summer in a 14-3 run-rule victory over Elida.

The five-inning win gave Dorner a little extra time Friday evening to have fun with a large group of his former players.

Prior to the game, Dorner's coaching successor, Mike Gast, delivered kind words from the press box as the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee stood on the diamond. While that was happening, a group of former Redskins, led by Dorner's son, Mitch, emerged onto the field from the left-field fence. Dorner threw out the ceremonial first pitch to his son, then greeted the rest of the guys.

"It was a pretty special moment for me," Dorner said. "I'm a pretty sentimental person, but I was doing pretty good up there. I was kind of proud when I was standing up there as Mike was talking. Boy, the second I looked down the left-field line and saw that whole line of guys coming in … that's when I lost it.

"That's why we coach," he added. "I mean, we love the game, but we coach for the kids, for the people that we work with. I've been fortunate to have incredible coaches over the 31 years, who will preach what I believe and stand behind me and put in all the hours. We have volunteer coaches every year. The stuff the kids have done and sacrifice, and I have to compliment my wife (Brenda) and my family. They've given up a lot of things over the years to allow me to be a kid at the ball diamond."

After taking over in 1990, Dorner posted a career record of 544-253 and won eight Midwest Athletic Conference championships and three state titles (1999, 2000 and 2003).

On Friday, St. Henry's summer team won its 14th game.

The Redskins finished with 16 hits while Andrew Lange held the Bulldogs to just four. Lange also went 4-for-4 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored.

St. Henry had 11 at-bats in the first inning, collecting six hits and plating seven runs off Elida starter Noah Bowman.

Zach Heitkamp's two-run single got St. Henry on the board, with Lange (single) and Ryan Uhlenhake (fielder's choice) scoring on the hit. Heitkamp, Isaac Ontrop (hit by a pitch) and Grant Kunkler (single) later occupied the bases when Josh Evers roped a three-run double. Isaac Wendel followed with an RBI triple. Jared Schwieterman's groundout provided the seventh run.

Lange opened St. Henry's second inning with another single. He scored a few moments after when Uhlenhake banged a triple to the right-field fence. Heitkamp's RBI single made it 9-0, then Ontrop crushed a triple that one-hopped off the center-field fence - St. Henry's 10th hit of the night. A sacrifice fly by Kunkler made it 11-0 after two complete.

Elida scored twice in the third, but St. Henry kept swinging. Elida side-armer Brice Engle tried his hand pitching and it didn't pan out very well.

Lange doubled with one out in the third, then Uhlenhake burned the center fielder with a double to the fence. Ontrop's RBI single made it 13-2. One inning later, Lange hit an RBI single.

He was one of six Redskins with at least two hits, a list that also included Uhlenhake, Heitkamp, Ontrop, Evers and Wendel.

"A lot of those hits were up the middle, opposite field," Dorner said. "That's what we preach here. You hear me say 'middle adjust' all the time. We're looking to drive the ball middle every time. If it comes inside we pull it. If it comes outside we try to drive it over the second baseman. Tonight in almost every at-bat, they were doing that. I was really pleased with how many good swings we had with two strikes on us. It was a complete team effort. It was nice to be able to honor the seniors at the end. This is a really good group of seniors."

Gast and assistant coach Kyle Kunk organized Dorner's farewell ceremony. The alumni in attendance stretched all the way back to Dorner's first two teams, with Steve Knapke (1990), Paul Moorman (1991) and Josh Link (1991) all present. Dorner paid tribute to the 2020 seniors - Lange, Ontrop, Wendel, Evers, Schwieterman, Wyatt Rose and Jackson Heath - ahead of the fifth inning. He then subbed himself out in favor of coach Gast and thanked his wife.

"It was a good way to step out tonight," Dorner said. "The kids played really well and it was a lot of fun."

LINESCORE
Elida  002  01  -  3  4  2
St. Henry  742  1x  -  14  16  2

WP - Lange

LP - Bowman

2B - E: Kirk. SH: Uhlenhake, Evers.

3B - SH: Ontrop, Uhlenhake, Wendel.

Records: Elida 4-5-1, St. Henry 14-7.