The top-seeded Olentangy baseball team handled its business in its postseason opener, cruising to a 10-1 Division I sectional final win over 29th-seeded Whetstone Wednesday night in Lewis Center.
The Braves took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Austin Sizemore in the bottom of the first. They added three more in the third thanks to RBI knocks by Brandon Hire and Nathan Holycross and landed the knockout blow in the fifth, tacking on another four runs.
Whetstone scratched across its lone run in the sixth before Olentangy answered with two of its own in the bottom half to account for the final margin.
Sizemore scored a game-high three runs for the Braves while Vitaly DiBlasi had a game-best two RBI. Tommy Chilicki, Carter Williamson and Aiden O’Brien also knocked in runs.
Brady Beaumont earned the win on the mound, allowing just three hits in five scoreless innings. He struck out six.
Olentangy Orange 4, Thomas Worthington 1
Matt Wolfe, Rocco Leonetti and Diego Astacio had two hits apiece and Cole Cahill tossed a three-hitter to lead the sixth-seeded Pioneers to a Division I sectional final win over the visiting and 33rd-seeded Cardinals Wednesday night in Lewis Center.
Orange scored all the runs it would need in the bottom of the first. Wolfe stole second after getting hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, then scored on a single to center off the bat of Cahill. Two outs later, Astacio’s RBI single made it 2-0.
Thomas scored a run in the fourth to slice its deficit in half, but the Pioneers got the run back in the bottom half before adding another in the fifth to all but seal the deal.
Olentangy Liberty 2, Marion Harding 0
It took the fifth-seeded Patriots some time to find their form from the plate, but they managed to string some hits together in the sixth en route to a Division I sectional semifinal win over the visiting Presidents Wednesday night in Powell.
With the teams locked in a scoreless tie, David Dielman laced a one-out double to left to give Liberty some life in the bottom of the sixth. Josh Stickel followed it up with a single to score Dielman before stealing home later in the inning to smooth out the scoring summary.
Mason Onate and Stickel finished with two hits apiece while Dielman went the distance on the mound. He allowed just two hits while striking out 10 in the complete-game shutout.
Next up, Liberty will host 23rd-seeded Gahanna Lincoln in Tuesday’s district semifinal. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. in Powell.
New Albany 2, Big Walnut 0
Noah Clawson limited the second-seeded Eagles to just a couple runs on six hits, but the Golden Eagle offense never got going during Wednesday’s Division I sectional final in New Albany.
New Albany’s Caden Robinson was dominant on the mound, allowing just three hits while striking out 14 in the complete-game shutout.
Ethan Clawson, Lorne Anderson and Noah Clawson had Big Walnut’s hits, all singles.
Hilliard Darby 4, Delaware Hayes 2, susp.
Brennan Green scored on a wild pitch to slice the Pacers’ deficit to 4-2 in the fourth, but the host Panthers loaded the bases in the bottom half before Wednesday’s Division I sectional final was suspended due to an early-evening shower.
The game is slated to pick up where it left off today at 5 p.m.
