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Division IV Team Of The Week: Lincolnview

VAN WERT - Eight games in seven days is not the typical high school schedule. But Lincolnview survived it in impressive style and for that the Lancers are the Prep Baseball Report Division IV Team of the Week.

“We’ve been scoring runs,” explained head coach Eric Fishpaw about the 12-1 start to the season. “We have 97 through 13 games. Our goal is seven per game which is tough.”

The week started in style with a 14-0 win over New Knoxville on Sunday at Dayton Dragons Stadium.

“We were supposed to play there last year but it was rained out so this was our first time there,” noted Fishpaw. “We were able to get 21 guys in the game which was cool for the kids.”

Northwest Conference wins over Spencerville (8-3) and Columbus Grove (4-0), a game in which Jaden Youtsey threw a two-hit shutout, were sandwiched around a 9-1 victory over Miller City.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said the coach of the top-ranked team in the state in D-IV about high expectations with this year’s squad. “There was PBR’s preseason ratings and Lima News did a feature. There’s a lot of excitement around here as well as commitment. We’re just playing loose. There’s no pressure and there’s not a bullseye on our back.”

With 10 lettermen including seven seniors returning from a 20-6 team, thoughts of this being a big year - and perhaps the first trip to state since 1974 - are admittedly there.

“We knew our pitching and defense would be good,” Fishpaw explained. “But I’ve been impressed with our offensive attack. We’ve got a .384 team average and we’re balanced.”

While experience is at a premium, youth has stepped up in a big way in freshmen Landon Price and Cole Binkley. Price, a left-handed pitcher rated 23rd in Ohio’s 2022 class, has been superb hitting .414 while throwing 17 innings to date with a 3-0 record, 28 strikeouts and nine walks along with a 0.41 ERA. Binkley, a left-handed hitting DH and part-time outfielder, is batting .393.

“They found a way into the lineup,” Fishpaw said.

But the Lincolnview coach points to four players as being vital to the early-season success so far in seniors Youtsey and Ethan Kemler, junior Gavin Carter (Video) and sophomore Collin Overholt.

Youtsey, a 5-11 170-pound infielder committed to Tiffin, has been the leader of a strong pitching staff. In 15 innings, Youtsey has a 0.00 ERA with 24 Ks and just five walks, while at the plate the right-handed hitter has a .501 batting average with three home runs.

Carter, the 126th-ranked junior in the state who at the PBR Ohio Elite North Scout Day in February had the best fastball, best three-pitch mix and most projectable arm, is 2-1 on the season with 35 strikeouts and 10 walks in 16 innings with a 3.06 ERA.

Kemler, a clean-up hitting first baseman, is the team-leader in RBIs while Overholt has replaced his brother Chayten (now at Ohio Northern) as the lead-off hitter and catcher while also providing solid work on the mound. In a team-high 19.2 innings of work, The 5-9 165-pounder, ranked 117th in the 2021 Ohio class, is 2-0 with one save and a 1.42 ERA, fanning 24 and walking four

“We need to keep pitching well,” Fishpaw said in looking ahead to the remainder of this season that includes games with NWC foes Bluffton and Allen East this week before a doubleheader with Fairview, the 16th-rated D-III team in the state, on Saturday. “With out first four starters, we feel very confident. They all can throw in the low-to-upper 80s.”

As a team the Lancers, whose only loss was to Division II Van Wert, have a 1.647 ERA with 133 strikeouts and 38 walks while permitting 66 hits in 85 innings.

With that kind of success on the mound, taking an early lead can prove advantageous according to Fishpaw.

“We’ve found when we get off to a good start good things happen,” Fishpaw noted. “When we get on the board in the first inning it jump-starts us.”