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By: Bruce Hefflinger
PBR Ohio

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Ohio Insider: Legion State Tourney On The Line

Will it be five different state champions in five years?

The answer comes this week when eight American Legion teams head to Beavers Field in Lancaster for the state tournament. It marks the seventh year in a row Lancaster has hosted the event after a 45-year run by Athens.

Action begins on Wednesday with the double elimination tournament to conclude either Saturday night or Sunday, depending on how many teams have survived the tourney set up.

Pickerington defeated Toledo 6-5 in 12 innings in last year's final, but did not field a team this year. Toledo beat Troy in the 2015 finals with Wayne County a winner over Napoleon in 2014. Napoleon had won it the previous year topping Circleville for the 2013 championship.

Four teams are back from state last season led by Sidney, which placed third in 2016. Circleville went 2-2 a year ago, Utica 1-2 and Sandusky 0-2. Pickerington won five straight games to claim the crown after losing to Circleville 4-3 on the first day of the tournament.

Utica and Sandusky meet in this year's tourney opener on Wednesday at 10 a.m. with Napoleon and Beverly-Lowell to follow at 1 p.m. Game three at 4 p.m. features Lancaster and Sandusky with the 7 p.m. finale pitting Sidney and Circleville.

Games 1 and 3 losers come back on Thursday at 10 a.m. with 2 and 4 losers at 1 p.m. Games 1 and 3 winners meet at 4 p.m. with the other first-day winners playing at 7 p.m. Games are set for 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. the following two days.

The state champion advances to the American Legion Great Lakes Regional, hosted this year by Napoleon. That tournament will take place Aug. 2-6 at Mercy Field in Toledo.

Following is a capsule look at this year's state tournament field.

Napoleon

Regionals: Region 1 champions snapped a two-year state tournament appearance drought and improved to 27-12 on the summer with a 14-3 win over Toledo in the finals. Toledo won the 2015 state crown and was runner-up a year ago.

History: The River Bandits have been the premiere legion baseball team in Ohio this decade, reaching state 10 of the last 14 years, winning four championships and finishing second four times since 1999.

Roster: Napoleon has players from 11 high schools: Defiance, Fairview, Ayersville, Archbold, Napoleon, Tinora, Hicksville, Bryan, Patrick Henry, Montpelier, Hilltop. The leading hitters a Toby Walker (Archbold) .388 and Jacob Greer (Hicksville) .341. Tyler Giesige (Tinora) is 4-0 with 6 saves and a 2.22 ERA on the mound while Greer is 3-3 with a 1.71 ERA.

Ranked players: Christian Pool (Bryan), 300th; Tyler Giesige (Tinora), 2017, 368th, Walsh; Toby Walker, 2017, 371st, Mount Vernon Nazerene; Jacob Greer (Hicksville), 2018, 38th; Parker Thiel (Hicksville), 2019, 102nd.

Sidney

Regionals: Region 2 champs needed two days and 11 innings to outlast Piqua 8-7 in the finals. Sidney led 7-0 before Piqua closed within 7-6. Lightning ended the game in the 9th and when the teams returned the following day, Piqua tied the game before Sidney won in extras to move to 27-14.

History: Jim Koewler stepped down as head coach after leading the 2016 squad to a third-place finish at state. However, no replacement was found so Koewler returned to a team with six players back from a year ago.

Roster: Sidney has four starters from Russia's Division IV OHSAA state Final 4 team including two (Daniel Kerns, Jack Depore) of the three pitchers used at state along with the shortstop (Dion Puthoff) and second baseman (Evan Monnier). The roster features players from Fort Loramie, Versailles, Wapakoneta, West Liberty-Salem, Sidney, Minster and Anna in addition to Russia.

Ranked players: Josh Nixon (Minster/University of Dayton), 2016, 216th; Maddux Liles (Wapak), 2017, 403rd, UNOH; Keaton McEldowney (Versailles), 2018, 140th.

Sandusky

Regionals: Survived a bases laded jam in the 9th to edge Milan 6-5 for the Region 3 title. Shortstop Nathan Delk (Malone recruit) made a leaping grab of a liner with the bases juiced to help Sandusky beat Kent State-bound pitcher Ryan Lane (New London, ranked 57th in 2017 class) to improve Sandusky to 17-12.

History: This marks the 6th state appearance in the past seven years and third in a row for Sandusky, which went two and out a year ago at Lancaster.

Roster: Seven high schools are represented on the Sandusky roster in Perkins, Clyde, St. Marys Central Catholic, Margaretta, Port Clinton, Bellevue and Sandusky.

Ranked players: Ryan Kelley (Clyde), 2017, 329th, Tiffin University; Dawson Nason (Perkins), 2017, 353rd; Nathan Delk (Malone), 2017, 396th.

Utica

Regionals: Utica was victorious in the four-team Region 4 tournament.

History: This will be the third consecutive year that Utica is at state, with Utica going 2-2 in 2015 and 1-2 a year ago.

Roster: There are eight schools with players on the Utica roster in Granville Christian, River View, Newark Catholic, Utica, Newark, Licking Valley, Granville and Northridge.

Ranked players: None.

Circleville

Regionals: Circleville rallied from a 5-0 deficit to run-rule Chillicothe 16-6 in seven innings in the Region 5 championship.

History: Circleville beat last year's state champion Pickerington 4-3 in the tourney opener. This marks the third time in five years Circleville has reached state, with the 2013 team losing to Napoleon in the 2013 finals.

Roster: Six high schools are represented on the Circleville roster in Logan Elm, Teays Valley, Amanda Clearcreek, Westfall, Liberty Union and Circleville.

Ranked player: OF Travis Grim (Teays Valley), 2017, 351st.

Lancaster

Regionals: The host legion for state has won 17 of its past 21 games after knocking off Athens for the Region 6 crown. Lancaster, which is now 26-15, comes out of a region in which defending state champion Pickerington had won five of the past six years.

History: Lancaster will be making its 8th appearance ever at state.

Roster: There are eight high schools with players on the Lancaster roster including Berne Union, Fairfield Union, Lakewood, Pickerington Central, Bloom Carroll, Lancaster, Fisher Catholic and Liberty Union.

Ranked player: RHP Tanner Griggs (Pickerington Central), 2017, 176th, Wittenberg.

Steubenville

Regionals: Steubenville pounded Richmond 10-0 in the finals to make it four different teams in the past four years to win Region 7 (Coshocton 2016, Tuscarawas 2015, Wayne County 2014).

History: This will be the first time Steubenville participates in the state tournament since 2013.

Roster: The starting nine from the Steubenville Division II OHSAA state team is on a roster that also includes players from Steubenville Catholic Central and Indian Creek.

Ranked player: LHP Nicky Zorne (Steubenville), 2017, 364th, Ashland University.

Beverly-Lowell

Regionals: A 13-3 seven-inning mercy-rule win over Marietta propelled Beverly-Lowell to its 23rd win in 35 games and with it a Region 8 championship. Left-hander Luke Nelson was the winning pitcher with Jake Davis (Heidelberg), Tate Engle and Trace Schafer all with two hits for B-L, which snapped a two-year region-title run by St. Clairsville.

History: The trip to state ends a two-year drought at Lancaster for Beverly-Lowell, which was in the state tourney in 2014. This will be the ninth time at state in the past 14 years for B-L.

Roster: Seven high schools are represented on the Beverly-Lowell roster in Fort Frye, Waterford, Warren, Caldwell, Byesville, Belpre and Frontier.

Ranked player: LHP Tyler Bradford (Fort Frye), 2018, 95th.