Orange knocks off Grove City to capture regional title
Thursday, June 2, 2023
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Olentangy Orange’s Charlie Scholvin (5) leaps on top of the dogpile after the Pioneers’ 6-1 victory at Grove City in a Division I regional final on June 2. Photo: Michael Rich
Part of the beauty of baseball is getting another chance the next day. Diego Astacio took full advantage of his next opportunity and finished off a 6-1 victory over host Grove City to help Olentangy Orange win a Division I regional championship on June. 2.
The Pioneers won their second regional title and first since 2017 and will play Whitehouse Anthony Wayne in a state semifinal on June 8 at Canal Park in Akron.
Astacio entered the game with runners on first and second with one out and coaxed a pop out and a groundout to preserve the win.
Just one day earlier, he entered the game with a four-run lead with the bases loaded and two outs against rival Olentangy Liberty and gave up a run on passed ball followed by three singles that produced three runs.
Jacob Tabor took over and preserved a 7-6 win.
“(Last night) would hurt anybody,” Astacio said. “(Tonight is) surreal. I’ve been dreaming of this since freshman or sophomore year when I started getting a taste of varsity ball. The goal was always to get to Canal Park. Now that we’re doing it, it doesn’t feel real.
Grove City’s Grady Speegle (top) tags out Olentangy Orange’s Evan Eichel (bottom) at home plate during the Pioneers’ 6-1 victory at Grove City in a Division I regional final on June 2. Photo: Michael Rich
“Just getting out there and getting two more outs (tonight), it was we go to Akron. That’s all I thought about.”
Orange coach Tom Marker called a meeting last night to try to settle his team after getting the win over their rivals, who had beaten them all three times in OCC-Central Division play this season.
“I think coming back from a loss is easy,” he said. “You’re fired up, you’re (upset) and you’re ready to go. Coming back from a win, you’re trying to get back to the center as fast as you can. You don’t want to be on either side of the spectrum. Those are two bad places you don’t want to be. You want to be back in the center as fast you can. We celebrated against Liberty last night, but we had to get back to middle pretty quickly.”
The meeting served its purpose.
“You sleep and you forget about it,” Tabor said. “Diego is one the strongest-minded people on the team. He forgot about, he came back, he shoved and he did what he had to and we dog-piled.
“(Marker) wanted us to flush it. It was one of those things where we had to get even again and them come back and compete.”
Tabor danced in and out of danger most of the game for the Pioneers (22-10). He allowed an earned run on five hits, five walks and two hit batters, but struck out six over 6 1/3 innings.
Olentangy Orange’s Keegan Knupp (8) rounds third base during the Pioneers’ 6-1 victory at Grove City in a Division I regional final on June 2. Photo: Michael Rich
Offensively, holding a 1-0 lead, Orange caught fire in the fourth with four consecutive hits to open the inning.
Casey Covert and Charlie Schlovin each hit two-run singles and Evan Eichel added an RBI single in the five-run frame.
“We really try to buy into these backside approaches,” Covert said. “I just saw something I like and I’m glad I can help out the team.”
Astacio and Cole Cahill each had two hits.
“(Orange) went out and earned it,” Grove City coach Ryan Alexander said. “We hit (Tabor) a little bit, but no timely hits. We needed that big two-out knock and we couldn’t get it.”
Keegan Holmstrom, who took the loss in a complete game for the Greyhounds (21-11), retired the final seven batters he faced.
“I’ve never seen anyone ever get to him like that inning,” Alexander said. “They put five (runs) on him. Other than the one error on the bunt play, it was four or five hits in a row that were amazing, good, strong hits. I’ve never seen that.”