Kenston holds on to win first baseball state title with 4-3 win over Ontario

AKRON, Ohio – Kenston pitcher Nikko Georgiou let out a scream, flexed his arms in front of him and walked off the mound at the end of the sixth inning of the OHSAA Division II state championship game to a standing ovation at Canal Park.

The senior had just struck out Ontario’s Caden Boebel with an 86 mile per hour fastball to strand runners on second and third to preserve a 4-3 lead for the Bombers.

“He has picked us up all year in that situation,” Kenston head coach Joe Hritz said. “We talked about limiting damage all year long. And that was a huge spot to do it and Nikko was the one to get it done.”

That score held up as Kenston went on to win its first baseball state championship in school history.

Georgiou was in that precarious situation after Ontario loaded the bases with nobody out in the inning and Carter Walters delivered a two-run single to cut what had been a three-run lead for the Bombers to just one.

After getting the next hitter to fly out to center and striking out the hitter after that, the runners stole second and third on back-to-back plays to set up the Warriors with a chance to tie or take the lead.

“They put the ball in play and put the pressure on,” Georgiou said. “I just knew I had to bear down, let them hit the ball, let our defense do the work.”

But Georgiou rocked and fired two fastballs in a row – one at 85 miles per hour and the knockout punch at 86 – to strike out Boebel and end the threat.

Georgiou then gave up a leadoff single in the seventh and Ontario moved the runner to second on a sacrifice bunt. But Jayden Leach hit a soft liner to second baseman Tommy Pecoraro who dove and made the catch and then flipped to shortstop Carter Flynn at second for the game-ending double play.

“I saw Tom get a good break on it at second and I was just covering second base and fortunately for us, the runner left early thinking the ball was down,” Flynn said. “Tom made a great play and started running it over to me and flipped it. It was a surreal moment.”

Georgiou went the distance, allowing three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out seven.

Ontario scored the game’s first run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Gage Weaver, but Kenston put up a three spot in the second inning to take the lead and scored another in the fifth.

Pecoraro led off the bottom of the second with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Parker Munday and took third on a balk. He was driven in with an RBI double by Georgiou.

Georgiou then moved to third on a balk and scored on a double by Bridger Bischoff, who went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a squeeze bunt by Grant Beclay.

Catcher L.A. Mighton led off the bottom of the fifth with a triple and scored on a groundout by Jimmy Cerha two batters later to make it 4-1.

“They're a special group, a special bunch,” Hritz said. “Every single one of them has a role on this team and they've embraced it all the way through these playoffs again. They were put in a situation where they were able to capitalize, and they came through.”

Even more than thirty minutes after the game ended, the head coach couldn’t put into words what the title meant for him and the program.

“I have no idea right now, man, this is phenomenal,” Hritz said. “I'm just so happy and so proud of these guys. I couldn't ask for more for a better group of kids.”

The shortstop was still smiling ear to ear just thinking about the play that ended the game and the fact that Kenston was now a state champion.

“This feeling can't be explained, it is just truly tremendous,” Flynn said. “All the hard work and dedication we have put in, I’m proud of this team and the way we battled this year.”