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PBR Classic At Defiance Proves To Be Special

DEFIANCE - Eight strong teams at one beautiful venue added up to a great day for baseball enthusiasts on Saturday at Defiance.

Over the past two years the Prep Baseball Report Classic has battled Covid and lost and taken on bad weather and did not fare well. But a gusty wind was no match on Saturday for the PBR event which drew high praise from participants during the four games that took place.

“There was more talent on the baseball field than I have ever witnessed when it comes to high school baseball,” said head coach Tom Held of Defiance, whose facilities drew rave reviews from those in attendance. “PBR put on a first-class event with first-class programs. It was an honor to be part of something like this.”

The hometown Bulldogs defeated Olentangy Berlin in the second game of the day to remain unbeaten on the season. After playing five games in Florida, Berlin head coach Mike Weaver was happy to get on the field in his old stomping grounds of northwest Ohio.

“We’re always going to come here,” Weaver said of the PBR event held where his brother Rick is an assistant coach. “This is an experience for the kids. You know things are going to be done right, and you know PBR is going to do a great job covering it. Since this started three years ago, Covid shut it down but we did two last year and we’re going to do two this year (Berlin will face Franklin this coming Saturday at Chillicothe). You can count us in every year.

“It’s great competition, a well-run event and great facilities,” continued Weaver, whose team in 2021 also played in northwest Ohio in the PBR Classic event at Mercy Field in Toledo. “It’s good for the kids, and it’s good for not just us as a team but good exposure for our kids. We embrace that. We want our kids to get exposure. That’s important.”

In the opening contest of the day, defending Division IV state runners-up Lincolnview showed it will be another contender in 2022 behind the one-two pitching punch of Ohio-State bound Landon Price and junior Dane Ebel. The Lancers defeated D-III power Ottawa Hills, which features six players committed to play in college.

“Win or lose you learn a lot about yourself against good competition,” noted Lincolnview head coach Eric Fishpaw, whose team a year ago knocked off Antwerp in the same event held at Defiance High School when half of the four games were canceled due to the weather. “Ottawa Hills is a tremendous team, a tremendous program and coach (Chris) Hardman is an incredible coach. They’re gonna go a long ways, they're gonna go deep in the postseason.

“This tournament provides not only a tournament-like atmosphere  but also from a competitive standpoint gets you ready, in the middle of the season, for the tournament.”

The 2021 season culminated in a trip to Akron for the state tournament for the Lancers and Fishpaw is hoping his squad is now on the right path after their fourth straight win of the season on Saturday.

“The things Ottawa Hills does in terms of small ball and picks behind, you don’t see tried every day. It’s very creative, so to see that gives you another tool in your tool box come tournament time.”

Price, Lincolnview’s ace left-hander who has signed with Ohio State, believes the event is highly beneficial for himself and teammates.

“It’s awesome coming here,” Price said. “It really reminds me a lot of tournament time. Playing that good competition and just being able to go out with your guys and compete at the highest level … I feel it prepares us for the tournament really well.”

Hardman, Ottawa Hills’ long-time head coach, understands well the value of facing good opponents as a learning tool for his team

“We struggled to throw the ball over the plate, and we struck out 13 times,” Hardman said after his team’s seven-game winning streak came to an end. “Those are things you just can't do and win a baseball game against good competition.”

The state’s fourth-rated Division III team will be looking for better results closer to home when the Green Bears are back at the PBR Classic at Mercy Field in Toledo this coming Saturday against Bowling Green. Ottawa Hills will also participate in the PBR event on May 7 at Newton with Cincinnati Country Day the opponent.

Another participant in more than one PBR Classic this season is Walsh Jesuit, the top-ranked team in Ohio in Division I, which won the PBR High School Invitational at Rossford two weeks ago. The Warriors matched up with Mason on Saturday and were dealt their first defeat of the season. But it was far from discouraging for Walsh Jesuit head coach Chris Kaczmar.

“This helps us,” Kaczmar pointed out. “It’s a win, win.”

Mason mentor Curt Bly was ecstatic to not only get a shot at Walsh Jesuit, but to be a participant in the PBR Classic.

“It’s a great event,” Bly said. “PBR is amazing at what you do. We were certainly glad to be invited to be part of it. Anytime you can come to a great facility with coach Held here and play the number one team in the state, you’re not going to pass it up. We were certainly glad to be here.

“We gave one away earlier in the week and were happy to be able to bounce back today. Brenden Garula was masterful, obviously, that was the difference.”

The senior left-hander headed to Cincinnati held a loaded Walsh Jesuit lineup (though leadoff hitter Joey Canzoni, a Cincinnati recruit, was out with an illness) to just one hit, that coming on an opposite-field single to Michigan commit Henry Kaczmar on a 1-2 pitch in the third inning.

Speaking of strong pitching performances, Tommy Skelding gave one in the finale as the wind picked up and the wind chill lowered. The Kentucky commit pitched into the sixth inning in sending a second top-ranked team in the state to defeat on Saturday at the PBR Classic, as Marlington knocked off Hamilton Badin in a battle of D-II powers.

“This is huge for us,” Marlington head coach Cody Jones said of beating a talented Badin squad that started Washington State commit Nik Copenhaver on the mound. “We’ve got good teams in our league but when we made our schedule this year, this week we had Massillon Jackson on Wednesday, came up to play Ottawa Hills on Friday and then played these guys today. We were staring down a barrel of losing our last three in a row. Then you start questioning everything. But we still want to play good teams. To come here and play good competition and beat a team like that kind of proves to our boys that they belong on the field with any team in the state. So it was good for us. I think it’s going to be huge for us moving on.”

Jones was thankful to make the 3.5-hour trip to play at an event like the PBR Classic.

“A lot of these guys play high-level summer ball so they’re used to it, but to create this atmosphere this early in the high school season is just tremendous. The facilities, the hospitality, the teams just in general, it’s just a great event to be a part of and we’re thankful that we were able to be invited and just grateful to be part of it to be honest.”

After coaching in game two, Held sat in the stands and enjoyed the other action of the day with appreciation.

“We had a great crowd on Saturday, but as the word gets out on watching top-notch baseball, I believe there will be a lot more baseball fans coming out to watch,” noted Held, who will again be part of the PBR Classic on April 30 when Defiance hosts four more games featuring highly-regarded teams (Toledo St. John’s-New Albany, Defiance-Tallmadge, Franklin-Coldwater and Tinora-St. Henry). “If I had to guess, there will be at least 10 pros that will have played on April 16th in Defiance.”

The veteran Defiance coach, who led the Bulldogs to three state championships between 2013 and 2016, sees it as a plus for his team, which came into Saturday rated second in the state in Division II behind Badin.

“It was very beneficial for our kids to watch these teams and see how good you have to be to go Division 1,” Held said. “We have had a lot of guys go on and play high-level college and pro ball, but on Saturday I saw teams with an entire starting lineup of high-level players.

“I know the fans and teams that came to Defiance for the first time were amazed with the facilities here.  We are very fortunate to have a community that supports athletics like Defiance.”

PBR was happy to be involved in making the event such a success and looks forward to more throughout the rest of the season.

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