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Division I Team Of The Week: Week 1 - Olentangy Berlin

OLENTANGY - Expectations were high for Olentangy Berlin entering the 2024 season and the Bears did not disappoint to start the year, earning recognition as the Prep Baseball Ohio Division I Team of the Week.

“We returned six starters and four pitchers from last year's OCC Championship team that finished 21-8,” explained Olentangy Berlin head coach Mike Weaver, whose squad began the current campaign with a trip to Destin, Fla. “We liked our make-up and felt good about team chemistry going into the season. We knew that our pitching and defense would be a strength, but the offense needed to match it.

“Our hitting in Destin was a big positive, especially putting the ball in play with two strikes and coming through with two-out RBIs. This was against some really good competition and pitching.” 

Berlin defeated a pair of Ohio teams, Maysville 8-3 and Division I 11th-rated Anthony Wayne 15-0, with an 8-2 win over Etowah, the seventh-ranked Class 4A team in Alabama, sandwiched in for a 3-0 opening week of action.

“In three games, we only used four pitchers,” related Weaver, whose Bears are ranked seventh in Ohio’s Preseason Power 25 Ratings. “We got great starts from Kyle Haag, Taylor Bednar and Jack Showalter (uncommitted junior RHP). It was also good to see Nick Gemienhardt(uncommitted junior RHP)  throw a clean inning for his first varsity experience. We gave up three earned runs in three games.”

Haag, a Lake Erie College commit rated 33rd among senior right-handed pitchers in Ohio, struck out 10 and walked just one in 6.1 innings, giving up two earned runs. Bednar, an Akron signee and 34th-rated 2024 RHP in the state, surrendered just one earned run in seven innings with six strikeouts.

There were also standout performances at the dish, with Parker McDaniels leading the way with five hits in eight official at-bats, driving in six runs. Baret Spencer, the 53rd-rated senior outfielder in Ohio who is headed to Muskingum, was 5-11 with a double, scoring five runs and adding seven RBIs.

“Parker McDaniels was huge for us at the plate with several key hits that sparked us, as well as his usual dominant self behind the plate,” Weaver said of the second-rated senior catcher in Ohio, a Cincinnati commit. “It was also good to see Ascher Dent (third-rated senior first baseman in the state, an Ohio State commit) have some really good swings, and Baret Spencer was probably the most consistent at the plate all week.”

There was more that pleased the Berlin head coach.

“I loved our aggressiveness running bases,” Weaver noted. “I also thought our defense in all areas was fantastic.”

The challenges ahead are big this week with games today and Wednesday at Olentangy, and Friday at Hilliard Darby before playing in the Prep Baseball Classic on Saturday at Grove City with a game against national power Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Mich.

“It will be important for us, now that we are back in Ohio, to continue to focus on getting better, controlling what we can control and trusting the process,” Weaver concluded. “It’s a long season, and we play a very competitive schedule. We’re going to continue to play on the road, but our guys have embraced that challenge and I look forward to watching them compete. A coach I respect a ton once told me, ‘once you feel like you are IT, YOU AIN'T!’”

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