Archbishop Moeller parlays Vegas trip into baseball state title

AKRON, Ohio – What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Unless you are Archbishop Moeller baseball.

Moeller took home the OHSAA Division I state championship with a 4-1 win over Olentangy Orange on Saturday at Canal Park, but it could be argued that the start of the title run happened in Las Vegas in the first week of April.

After what turned out to be about a 24-hour trip to get to Vegas because of travel issues, the Crusaders lost the first two games to Vauxhall Academy (Idaho) and Regis Jesuit (Colorado). But after a team meeting, they bounced back for wins over Juan Diego Catholic (Utah) and St. Laurence (Illinois).

“I think there was a time when we flipped that switch,” Moeller senior first baseman Clay Burdette said. “We lost two in a row and then we kind of had a little team meeting and said we have to be more focused on each other and hold each other more accountable.”

They came home after the trip and lost to Elder, but finished the season winning 17 straight games, including Saturday’s state championship game.

On Saturday, Moeller took advantage of four Orange errors, scoring runs after each.

Moeller got its first run early, as CJ Richard led off the bottom of the first by reaching on an error and Toby Hueber followed with a single. And then with two out, Richard took off with the pitch and Hueber followed suit. Richard only went halfway and forced a throw by Orange to try to pick off Hueber. Richard then continued to third, drawing a throwing error that allowed Richard to score.

“CJ and I have been doing this all year,” Hueber said. “That's our whole game plan. It doesn't matter how we get on because we're fast. So, we just try and get runs early. And that usually helps.”

In the third inning, it was Hueber who was on second base and Nate Manley was on first. Hueber stole third and then scored on a throwing error on the play to make it 2-0.

“(Hueber) knows what he sees from the pitcher and the catcher if he can run,” Moeller head coach Tim Held said. “(He and) CJ’s game is all based on speed and so I think that really helps force the other team into how they're going to handle those two guys. Today, those two guys forced the action and Orange didn't handle a couple balls and we turned it into runs.”

And then in the fifth, Hueber led off with a double, stole third and then scored on an RBI single by Clay Burdette with one out.

Burdette stole second and Charlie Niehaus then hit a popup to shallow center that was dropped for the fourth error of the game for the Pioneers and Connor Christenson singled to score Burdette two pitches later.

Orange got its run in the fourth inning on a groundout by Keegan Knupp.

On the mound, sophomore Zion Theophilus went the distance, giving up one run on six hits and one walk while striking out seven on just 88 pitches.

“At first, I had a lot of anxiety, I can't lie,” Theophilus said. “But as soon as I got up there, I just brushed everything off and I had to silence my mind when I went to the mound.”

With the win, Moeller joined Newark Catholic for the second-most baseball state titles in Ohio with nine, trailing just Elder with 12. It’s the fifth for Held, but each is different for the head coach.

“I was lucky enough to win a few of these and every one of them is special because it's a different group of kids,” Held said. “It has its different challenges and all the different pieces that go with it. But this is such a talented group of kids, this 2023 group.”

It’s also a group that did something not most can – they came home from Vegas as winners.