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Division I Team Of The Week: Massillon Jackson

MASSILLON - There is a deep and talented pitching staff. College commits are all over the field. Expectations are always at an extreme.

A 14-game winning streak has Massillon Jackson sitting 22-2 on the season with the tournament just around the corner. It also has the top-ranked team in the state the Ohio Prep Baseball Report Division I Team of the Week.

“There are expectations but they are two-fold,” head coach Bill Gamble said. “We don’t talk too much about it, these guys have grown up with that mentality. They’ve watched the seniors before them and seen what they accomplished. There’s a bullseye, but we don’t talk about it. We concentrate on ourselves and continue to make growth. That’s the challenge of our coaching staff.”

A strong schedule that has featured two wins over Green and Glen Oak as well as victories against the likes of Tallmadge, St. Ed’s, Canton Central Catholic, Strongsville and Mayfield has the Polar Bears a confident team.

“We pride ourselves in a strong non-league schedule to go with our league games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” Gamble noted. “There is some really top-end pitching in Stark County right now. We see number one pitchers on Tuesday that bring a tournament atmosphere.”

A perfect 12-0 Federal League record has given Jackson its sixth consecutive conference title. In fact,  the Polar Bears have now won 54 straight league games dating back to 2015.

“We’ve checkmarked that box,” Gamble said as his squad now looks forward to the postseason for a program that has won two of the past five D-I state crowns.

Pitching has been about as good as it gets. Yianni Skeriotis (Video) has not permitted an earned run in 40 innings. The 6-3 200-pound right-handed Ohio State commit who is ranked 12th in the 2019 class, is now 8-0 to push his career record to 26-0.

“Yianni has been that dude on the mound who gives us his best effort every time out,” Gamble said. “He’s doing things that don’t come around often.”

Unfortunately for the opposition, the staff is far from a one-man crew.

Trent Jones, the 13th-ranked junior in the state who has committed to Ohio State, also has a 0.00 ERA with a 5-0 record and one save in 30.1 innings. Taylor Johnson is 4-0 with a 1.73 ERA in 24.1 frames while Spencer Stanton has six saves in 11 outings.

Connor Frazier, the 67th-ranked Ohio junior, and left-hander Ethan Kulich, a Sinclair recruit rated 128th in the state’s senior class, bring more depth to the staff.

“We hang our hat in this program with pitching and defense,” Gamble said. “If we execute those two things, you win leagues and go far in the tournament. We’ve had some great outings and our bullpen has pitched well of late.”

Eleven players are batting better than .300 led by Ben Hymes at .462, Trey Wright at .446 and Drew Feucht at .409. Wright, a four-year starter and Toledo signee ranked 54th in the state’s senior class, and Hymes, an uncommitted junior rated 76th in the 2020 class who leads Stark County in RBIs (32) and home runs (three), bat in the meat of the order.

Petey Taylor, a left-handed stick and recent Akron commit ranked 116th in the state’s junior class, is hitting .388 and playing shortstop for the second year in a row. Josh Romans, the 48th-rated 2020 who was injured a year ago, is playing third base and hitting .369 with Feucht, an uncommitted left-handed hitting senior, at second base. Stanton, a right fielder and first baseman, is averaging .383 in addition to closing out games. The Toledo recruit hits left-handed and is ranked 37th in Ohio’s senior class.

“We really challenged these guys at the beginning of the year - no more throw-away at-bats,” Gamble said. “They’ve really bought into it. We’ve been able to extend innings and get into bullpens faster.

“We’re really executing a lot better later in the season,” Gamble added. “That’s been an upward trend for us.”

No better time for that with the tournament ready to begin.

“We talk in our program that May matters,” Gamble pointed out. “The tournament can be very humbling, things can turn quickly on you. We’re just looking to continue to grow, continue to get better and to make that next step.”