Division III Team Of The Week: Week 7 - Mechanicsburg

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Division III Team Of The Week: Week 7 - Mechanicsburg

MECHANICSBURG - Becoming tone of the last two unbeaten squads in the state helped earn Mechanicsburg the honor of being the Prep Baseball Report Division III Team of the Week.

Although the perfect season came to an end on Monday with a 5-3 loss to Arcanum, the Indians had an incredible year that included the first conference championship at the school since 1965.

“I remember that was the goal of mine when I took the job,” reflected 10th-year head coach Bryan Eyink.

The luxury of nine seniors on the roster helped the Indians compile a 27-game winning streak to open the season, featuring a 10-6 win over National Trail to win the sectional finals last week.

“Our boys have been such a tight-knit group since they were young,” Eyink pointed out. “They’re team players first. To see what they’ve done is remarkable.”

Mechanicsburg got the job done on both sides of the ball.

“We’ve been consistent all-around offensively,” Eyink explained. “Put the ball in play, make the defense work and run the bases well. 

“We’ve also been blessed with good pitching. We don’t necessarily have an ace, it’s more of a 1A, 1B, 1C. We can run any of them out there on a given night and they can keep us in the ballgame. Our defense has also played very well.”

Brooks Tom, the 53rd-rated senior shortstop in the state, is an Adrian commit who has started since his freshman season. The two-hole hitter for Mechanicsburg averages .462 with 37 RBIs, 38 runs and 23 stolen bases. Additionally, Tom is 5-0 with one save on the hill with a 0.91 ERA.

Lane Casey, a Bluffton commit ranked 142nd among senior right-handed pitchers in Ohio, logged the most innings at 42.2, with an 8-0 record and 1.64 ERA. Junior left-hander Jake Edwards threw 42 frames with a 7-1 mark, fanning a team-best 52 with a 2.50 ERA. The southpaw threw a complete game with 11 strikeouts in a win over West Liberty to wrap up an unbeaten season in the Ohio Heritage Conference.

The Mechanicsburg three-hole hitter also led the team in batting at .526 and 34 runs scored.

Another junior, Aaron Conley, was the “field general and an extension of the coaching staff” behind the plate according to Eyink. The team’s clean-up hitter had four triples, five home runs and 54 RBIs with a .486 batting average.

“We’ve had surprises, too, guys in the lineup that were not sketched in at the beginning of the year,” noted Eyink. “It takes a collective group as a team to be so successful.”

Seniors Deacon Morgan (.524), Ethan Kramer (.511), Daniel Burchett (.432), Colby Baldwin (.408) and Hayden Delong (.383) were other major contributors in their final year on the field for Mechanicsburg.

Still, Eyink admits the idea of starting the season 27-0 never crossed his mind.

“We had some key components back from 2019, but we lost a good (2020) senior class,” Eyink said. “To finish 16-0 in the conference is remarkable. It’s a tough conference with a lot of respectful opponents. I think these guys did it with a chip on their shoulder, doing it for last year’s senior class.”

The success also brought the community of Mechanicsburg together.

“People would come up to you walking around here and congratulate you,” Eyink related. “Your goal in a small community is to make those people and the school proud.”