Redskins, Cavs gear up for state

By TOM HAINES and GARY R. RASBERRY
sports@dailystandard.com

Two Midwest Athletic Conference schools send teams to the 2022 ACME Baseball Congress state tournament, with District 4 champion Coldwater joined by host team St. Henry at the Wally Post Athletic Complex this weekend for a shot at the state title.

The two teams' paths diverged in the sectional, where Coldwater beat St. Henry 11-1 in six innings in the second game and the Redskins fell to Celina in the losers' bracket two days later.

The Cavs of Summer, meanwhile, beat Celina and Minster in the district tournament to keep their run alive, despite missing six starters at times during the season.

"It's been an interesting summer where we've had a lot of injuries. A lot of kids have had to step up," said Coldwater coach Tom Brunswick. "Some of them were on the JV team last spring. They've stepped up, helped themselves and helped the team as well. The kids coming up from Junior ACME have helped a lot, too. It's been a summer of piecing it together waiting for the other guys to come back. Some haven't yet."

After losing to Minster in the season opener, three days after the spring season ended in the district final, Coldwater went on a four-game win streak, snapped in the second game of a doubleheader against Defiance.

As injuries and absences mounted, including to centerfielder Marcel Blasingame and ace Keegan Bruggeman, Coldwater run-ruled New Bremen and St. Henry before dropping two of three, an 11-3 loss to Fort Recovery in a Mercer County game and an 11-1 loss to Russia on June 18.

"I think our low spot was when we got run-ruled by Russia," said Brunswick. "It was a 3-1 game before Russia scored eight in the sixth. At that point, we were down to 7-4 and haven't lost since. That day, we challenged the guys and told them we're not that bad. I expected to rebound and come back in a big way. Boy, have they!"

Coldwater has rattled off nine wins in a row since the Russia loss, including four shutouts and two other games allowing just a run. The Cavs of Summer swept through the Mercer County sectional by a combined score of 28-4 and then outscored their district foes 18-4 in three games.

In its state tournament opener at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Coldwater will square off against Napoleon, which beat Ottawa-Glandorf 6-0 in the district final. The Wildcats won their three district games by a combined score of 30-0.

Coldwater got a chance to play the Wildcats early in the season, winning a doubleheader at Veterans Field on June 4 by scores of 8-7 and 10-0.

"We beat them on a walk-off in the first game, then won the second 10-0," said Brunswick. "They were missing some players and we were, too. They're a good ballclub with good pitching and team speed. They'll be a tough opponent. That's for sure."

The winner of that game will face the winner of Van Wert and Indian Lake in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Cavs of Summer have not won a state title since winning their eighth in 1994. Only Defiance has more in the history of the ACME Baseball Congress with 11.

The Harlamert family has brought punch to the batting order for Coldwater this summer. Evan Harlamert (son of spring head coach Brian Harlamert) is batting .420 with 18 RBI and 17 runs. Evan's twin cousins, AJ and Braylen Harlamert are up there as well, with AJ batting .391 with 24 runs and 16 RBI and Braylen leading the team with 27 runs to go with a .386 average and 18 RBI.

Pitching, Justin Kaup has been the go-to guy, winning five of his six decisions with a save and an earned run average of 1.19. AJ Harlamert has picked up his pitching in going 3-2 with a 2.26 ERA while Evan Harlamert is 3-0 and has yet to give up an earned run in 18 2/3 innings this summer. If Bruggeman is able to take the mound, he adds an additional punch in a tournament that takes three wins to earn the title. Bruggeman has 14 innings in this summer with a 1-1 record to go with a 4.50 ERA.

St. Henry, meanwhile, had an up-and-down summer, fighting back to .500 before the start of the tournament and taking the fourth seed in sectionals behind Fort Recovery, Coldwater and Celina. After beating Parkway in the sectional opener, the Redskins beat Marion Local and Fort Recovery in the losers' bracket before falling 3-1 to Celina in the losers' bracket final.

With a week off as the rest of the field played through the districts, as well as home field advantage, the Redskins come in comfortable and at full strength. St. Henry is also making its second consecutive trip to state and returns seven players from that 2021 team, six of whom played in the 5-0 loss to Tinora.

"We've got to come ready to play," St. Henry coach Tyler Bruns said. "Last year, Tinora had a really good pitcher and we weren't able to get the hits and get guys on base like we wanted to."

One of the Redskins' major weaknesses earlier in the summer was defense, with errors costing them against Fort Recovery and Celina in regular-season play. In the sectionals, St. Henry committed eight errors over five games, with four coming in a wild 16-9 win over the Indians on June 30.

"We've definitely improved through the summer," Bruns said. "(Against Fort Recovery), we made errors in both the infield and outfield, and that hurt. We've got to come ready to play, make that first out of the game and continue that on."

Delzeith has stepped up as the ace of a deep rotation and will get the ball for the opener 7 p.m. Saturday against Perrysburg. Evan Bowers and Luke Beyke have turned in quality starts with Emmitt LaBrun and Ethan Nietfeld making appearances out of the bullpen, and Bryce Brookhart and Lucas Clune could take the mound in the tournament as well.

"This summer, we've had a lot of guys pitch, with a lot of games during the week and managing pitch limits," Bruns said. "Devin's thrown really well, Evan Bowers has thrown pretty well also. We've had to get pretty deep into the rotation… but Devin will definitely be leading us off on Saturday."

Nolan Kunkler and Drew Schwieterman have been the linchpins of St. Henry's lineup, with Kunkler manning the leadoff spot and Schwieterman hitting cleanup. Kunkler homered to right-center at Veterans Field to lead off the sectional win over Fort Recovery, while Schwieterman hit a homer to left at Wally Post against Coldwater in the regular season.

If the Redskins win, they will play the winner of Defiance and Russia at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the semifinals, with the state championship set for 6 p.m. Monday.