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St. Henry catcher Caden Bergman, right, walks back to the dugout as Russia's Jude Counts celebrates after scoring the lone run of the game as Russia defeated St. Henry 1-0 in eight innings in the Division IV state baseball semifinal in Akron.
AKRON - For eight innings on Thursday, St. Henry's Devin Delzeith and Russia's Xavier Phlipot were locked in a scoreless duel.
In the end, Phlipot ended it with his bat.
Phlipot lined a two-out single to right to score Jude Counts and give Russia a 1-0, eight-inning win in the Division IV baseball state semifinals at Canal Park in Akron.
"Devin battled his butt off," St. Henry coach Mike Gast said. "He finishes the season with over 80 innings pitched. He's tired, and he just battled and battled and battled, and they were able to sneak one across before us."
Delzeith took a tough-luck loss after throwing 101 pitches, 74 for strikes, over 7 2/3 innings and allowing four hits and one walk.
St. Henry's Devin Delzeith, right, throws to first as teammate Bryce Brookhart backs him up.
After stranding three runners in the first three innings, he bore down and retired 13 straight batters before Counts led off the eighth with a bunt on the left side. Third baseman Bryce Brookhart was playing back, the ball got past the mound before Delzeith could field it, and Counts reached with a single to put the winning run on first.
"Yeah, a little bit (surprised by the bunt)," Delzeith said. "Then when I went to throw, I bobbled it a little bit."
"It's probably something we should've looked at there," Gast said. "Obviously, at this point, you second-guess almost any decision that could've gone the other way. But he made a good bunt."
Delzeith needed just three pitches to punch out Ross Fiessinger, but the third bounced in the dirt and briefly got away from catcher Caden Bergman to move Counts to second base.
Cooper Unverferth kept the bat on his shoulder on a 2-2 pitch for Delzeith's fifth strikeout of the game and the second out of the eighth. But Phlipot, the Raiders' leadoff hitter, stepped in and took the first pitch he saw to right field.
Counts was off at the crack of the bat, and by the time Eli Horstman's throw was cut off by Drew Schwieterman, he was diving for the plate to send Russia (26-6) to the state title game.
"Good swing, took it opposite field," Delzeith said.
"It was a good swing, good on that kid." Gast said. "Benefit of being the home team there and being able to hit last. But Devin had a great game."
St. Henry (24-7) seemed poised to take control in the top of the sixth, as Delzeith led off with a slow roller down the third base line and Hayden Quinter's throw sailed to send him to second. Logan Link followed with a line drive through the left side, but Fiessinger was playing shallow in left and Delzeith was held up at third.
Link took second as Brayden Monnin cut off the throw from the catcher to keep Delzeith from going home, and the Redskins had three outs to work with. Bryce Brookhart hit a high pop-up on the third base line that was caught in foul ground, and Hayden Boeckman chopped a grounder to Monnin at second.
Delzeith took off for home, Monnin leapt to field the ball and fired to Unverferth at the plate in time, keeping the game scoreless.
"It was a good throw, and I don't second-guess his decision to go," Gast said. "That's not an issue at all. It was a good read, he was going right now, and it took a good throw to get him."
That left St. Henry with runners on first and second, but Schwieterman hit a pop-up off the handle of his bat down the first base line and Counts made the easy grab to end the inning.
Link reached with a two-out single in the eighth, but Brookhart grounded out to short to strand him at first.
"Missed opportunity there," Gast said of the sixth, "Potentially, 'What if, what if, what if?', but they were able to get out of it."
Brookhart had the first hit of the game with a one-out single in the first, but was gunned down by Unverferth trying to steal second two pitches later. Schwieterman was hit by a pitch to lead off the second, Horstman took his place after a fielder's choice on a bunt, and Unverferth came through again, nabbing Horstman to clear the bases.
Russia's Brayden Monnin jumps to avoid St. Henry's Eli Horstman after tagging him out trying to steal second during Thursday's Division IV state baseball semifinal at Canal Park in Akron.
In the third, Nolan Kunkler swung through strike three but made it to first as the ball squirted away from Unverferth. Phlipot struck out Bergman and got Delzeith to line out to centerfield before Link worked a two-out walk. Brookhart hit a deep fly down the left field line, but it was high enough for Fiessinger to settle under it to make the third out.
"I think he just hits his spots so well," Gast said of Phlipot. "Like Devin, he can throw multiple pitches for strikes. Really, really effective."
Russia had its own threat in the third, as Brookhart slipped on a grounder to allow Unverferth to reach safely. Phlipot laid down a bunt that Delzeith got to Ethan Nietfeld covering first, but Unverferth made a big turn at second, thinking Brookhart had left third uncovered, and Nietfeld fired to Link to catch him off the bag. Brookhart got back in plenty of time and applied the tag to wipe Unverferth off the bases.
Shappie grounded through the left side for a single, but Delzeith got a groundout and then rattled off four 1-2-3 innings.
"I just throw strikes," Delzeith said. "I just had to have confidence in myself and everyone around me, and we'll get it done."
Centerfielder Hayden Boeckman helped out his starter in the second by tracking down a deep fly ball in right-center the second inning, then made five of the six outs in the sixth and seventh, including a running catch in the left-center gap to take away a likely leadoff double in the seventh.
"Hayden covers a helluva ground," Delzeith said. "The whole outfield does. They just fly around. It's hard to get a ball down in the outfield."
St. Henry's Nolan Kunkler dives back into first base during Thursday's game.
Russia plays Berlin Hiland, which defeated Tiffin Calvert 4-1 in eight innings in the late semifibnal, in the state championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday, with a chance to earn its second straight state title.
St. Henry will have to replace six seniors, including Brookhart, Nietfeld, Kunkler and Horstman. But the rest of their key contributors, including Delzeith, will be back for another season with the Redskins.
"Just telling the seniors how proud we are of everything that they've done," Gast said. "We've talked about, for the last three years, just taking the next step as a program and winning a district. So we're very proud of what they were able to help us get to. And from an underclassman perspective, we do return a lot next year, so the idea of not being content and continuing to take steps forward as a program, compete our butts off next year to get back here."
