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Division II Team Of The Week: Week 1 - Marlington

MARLINGTON - With four graduates now playing college baseball, including two at the Division I level, there were some question marks on how good Marlington could be in 2024.

The Diamond Dukes answered in a big way with a pair of wins to open the season, earning the honor of the Prep Baseball Ohio Division II Team of the Week.

“In complete honesty, I was very uncertain of what this group of guys could accomplish,” admitted Marlington head coach Cody Jones, whose squad knocked off Waynedale, the top-rated Division III team in the Prep Baseball Preseason Ratings, 5-2 in the season opener before beating D-I 42nd-ranked GlenOak 4-3 on Thursday. “I was confident that we would have the pitching staff and depth to allow us to compete in every game, and we have plenty of starting experience back at various positions on the field to where I felt confident that the speed of the game at the varsity level would not be too fast for us. I felt if we could find a way to scratch a few runs across that we would have a shot to win many ball games in the later innings.”

Strong pitching proved vital in picking up two victories to begin the season with Sam Yoder coming up huge in both games. After giving up three hits and no earned runs with two Ks and zero walks in three innings of relief against Waynedale, the 29th-rated junior right-handed pitcher in Ohio went the distance against GlenOak, permitting six hits and one earned run, fanning five and not walking a batter.

“He threw a complete game on only 90 pitches, and had it not been for a few defensive miscues behind him the number would have been in the 70-75 range,” Jones noted.

Drew Simmons, a 6-6 230-pound senior RHP, started against Waynedale and gave up four hits and one earned run with three strikeouts and two walks in a quality start to being the season for the Dukes.

“We put a lot of emphasis on winning the ‘Freebie War’ and we did so against Waynedale at plus-four, but we did not do so at GlenOak where we were minus-four,” explained Jones. “But thanks to the dominant pitching performance by Sam Yoder we were able to overcome it.”

There was also some fine play behind the plate from senior catcher Garrett Martz, who threw a runner out in both games, including Cincinnati commit Quincy Mazeke of GlenOak.

Additionally, Marlington had its moments at the plate with Tatem Hoffman coming up big in consecutive at-bats. In the bottom of the sixth against Waynedale, the junior outfielder/catcher  delivered a crucial RBI single to extend the lead to 5-1 after an appeal overturned a potential third out. Then in the top of the first against GlenOak, Hoffman produced a two-out two-run double.

Wyatt Dillon, who had a sacrifice fly to give the Dukes a 4-1 lead against Waynedale, duplicated the at-bat with a sac fly in the top of the seventh against GlenOak to break a 3-all deadlock. Travis Hoffmeyer opened the seventh with a single and fellow junior Dylan Heatherington then reached on a bunt single leading up to the fly to deep center field by Dillon that brought home Hoffmeyer with the eventual winning run.

“Hopefully, the two wins week one will give our guys the confidence that they can compete with anyone as long as we play our brand of baseball,” Jones said. “We stress throwing strikes (we want two or less walks a game), making the routine plays (one or less errors a game) and having quality at-bats( 55 percent as a team each game). If we do those three things we believe that we have a chance in every game we play.

“Our conference, the Eastern Buckeye Conference (EBC), is very competitive (West Branch, Alliance, Carrollton, Salem and Minerva), they all are good teams. On top of that we play a very competitive non-league schedule, so doing those three things are crucial to having any sustained success.”

Weather permitting, the week ahead features a home game with Carrollton on Wednesday, at Carrollton Thursday and home contests on Saturday with Green and Lake.

“While we do not have the studs like Tommy Skelding (Kentucky), Drew Denham (Chattanooga State) and Caden Bates (Bowling Green), all lost to graduation in 2023, the strength of this team is as a whole, so we will need all of our guys on the varsity roster to contribute in order for this year’s group to have continued success and possibly make a run in late May,” concluded Jones, who played the opening week of the season without two players (injury and vacation). “That's why our ‘One Word’ for our program has and always will be ‘MUDITA’ (Vicarious joy in the success of others).”

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