AKRON, Ohio — It was a coronation fit for a king, and Waynedale High School can once again lay claim to Ohio's Division III baseball crown.
One year after winning their first state title, the Golden Bears did it again Saturday night, squashing Harrison Central 10-1 to win the OHSAA D-III trophy. Lucas Daugherty's squad dominated from start to finish, scoring at least one run in each of the first five innings while starting pitcher Otto Solorzano kept the Huskies in check.
Unlike 2022, Waynedale came into the 2023 state tournament unranked with an overall record of 17-9. However, the Bears silenced the doubters by blowing through the bracket, winning all but one of their six postseason games by at least three runs. They took a 1-0 lead on this night when leadoff man Dylan Raber scored in the first, but the real onslaught came in the second.
The Golden Bears ran Central starter Tucker Snyder off the mound by plating six in the following frame, with Tristan Franks and Connor Gatti each driving in a pair with a single and double, respectively. They would score again in the third, fourth, and fifth, with Bader eventually tallying three runs along with four hits.
Meanwhile, Solorzano was putting together a near carbon copy of his complete-game performance from last season's championship, this time allowing only one run over six frames while striking out seven batters. Timmy Short pitched a one-two-three seventh to seal it, fanning two in the process.
This year's title tilt was certainly a lot less exciting (though for Waynedale, probably also less stressful) than the previous spring, when Gatti's walk-off single gave the Bears the championship. This time around, Gatti had two hits as well as the aforementioned RBIs, and Waynedale also becomes the first team from any division to win back-to-back baseball finals since Chaminade Julienne in 2019.
Overall, it was a banner weekend for Northeast Ohio at Akron's Canal Park, as three of the four titles were claimed by schools from the region.