Before the season started, Olentangy Orange baseball coach Tom Marker said this year’s team, on paper, was the best he’d ever had during his time in Lewis Center.

Turns out, the 2023 Pioneers proved to be exactly that, and then some, making a magical run to the program’s first Division I state championship appearance in school history — a game they dropped, 4-1, to perennial power Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller, which secured its ninth state title Saturday morning at Canal Park in Akron.

Orange, which battled injuries to key players and a loaded OCC-Central Division throughout the regular season, found its form just in time for the tourney.

Players, like senior shortstop Charlie Scholvin, who returned in a regional semifinal win over rival Olentangy Liberty, got healthy.

They made clutch plays, too. Senior lefty Jacob Tabor got a bases-loaded strikeout to hold off the Patriots in the regional round and senior Cole Cahill tripled to lead off the ninth in an extra-inning state semifinal win over Anthony Wayne.

Saturday, though, against the state’s top-ranked team, it just wasn’t the Pioneers’ day.

Orange dug itself an early hole, falling behind after an inning. The Crusaders’ C.J. Richard reached on a fielding error, Toby Hueber singled and, a couple outs later, a throwing error allowed Richard to scamper home with the game’s first run.

Moeller followed a similar script to double its lead in the third. Singles by Richard and Nathan Manley put two on before a throwing error on a steal attempt made it a 2-0 game.

The Pioneers, who had baserunners in each of the first six innings, got a run back in the fourth. Back-to-back singles by Diego Astacio and Tyler Fuller set the table. Astacio went to third on a sacrifice fly by Evan Eichel and scored on a Keegan Knupp groundout.

That was the last run Orange could manage off Crusader starter Zion Theophilus, though. Theophilus, who improved to 7-0 with the win, went the distance, allowing a run on six hits while striking out seven and walking just one.

The Moeller offense certainly helped his cause, getting another couple runs in the fifth to break things open. Hueber doubled to get things started and, after stealing third, scored on a single off the bat of Clay Burdette. A Connor Christenson single later in the inning scored Burdette to smooth out the scoring summary.

Richard, Hueber and Christenson led the charge with two hits apiece.

Astacio had a pair of hits for Orange while Tabor pitched well despite suffering the setback on the mound. He allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits while striking out three and walking one.