By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Rootstown simply went up against a better team in its 10-0 loss to Lake Center Christian in Wednesday’s Division VI regional semifinal at Louisville.

It was the Rovers’ first Sweet 16 appearance in two decades.

Rootstown’s Sean Boveington points to his teammates in the dugout after connecting on a double during the Rovers’ home victory over Waterloo earlier this season.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

Rootstown, which finished with an 18-10 record, managed only two hits in the defeat.

“We needed to get off to a good start,” head coach Keith Waesch said. “Maybe being the home team might not have been as good a thing as you would think. It would’ve been nice to bat first and score some runs early.”

Instead, a two-run double that scored two Tigers, who walked to get on base in the top of the first inning, and two errors that led to five runs for Lake Center Christian in the second inning resulted in the Rovers staring at a 7-0 deficit.

For good measure, the Tigers tallied three more runs in the third.

“Basically, we should’ve had three outs without a run in the second,” said Waesch. “We shot ourselves in the foot, but take nothing away from Lake Center; they’re ranked second in the state in the coaches poll and have been most of the season. And they’re worthy of that ranking.

“We basically would’ve had to play perfect baseball to beat them,” Waesch added. “Lake Center Christian is a tremendous baseball team that I think has a chance to win a state title.”

Junior R.J. Soika started on the mound for the Rovers, then was relieved by sophomore Anthony Pratt in the fourth inning.

Rootstown triumphed over Columbia, 13-4, in last week’s district semifinal.

In that victory, junior Bryce Harless started and went six innings, yielding all four runs and six hits while striking out eight and walking three. Soika pitched the last inning.

“We got behind 2-0, and then Bryce really settled in and pitched a great game,” Waesch said. “Our offense obviously helped Bryce out, scoring 13 runs over the final five innings.”

Pacing the Rovers offensively were junior shortstop Ethan White and sophomore left

fielder Carson Hayn. White had two singles, two sacrifice flies, five RBI and a run, while Hayn

singled twice, drove in three runs and scored three times.

“Ethan really had a great second half of the season. He started hitting the ball on a line,” said the coach. “He’d been kind of dipping his shoulder the first half of the season, but he really came on and became one of our best hitters. He took over the cleanup spot in our order, and he’s really not a cleanup hitter. But he’s the type of kid who will do what’s good for the team, and I commend him for taking on that role as a cleanup hitter. He really settled in and did a nice job for us. Carson came up with a couple big hits that really allowed us to separate ourselves from trailing 2-0 to, after his second hit, opening up a 7-2 lead.”

Soika singled three times and knocked in three runs.

Two nights later, on May 30, Rootstown defeated United 8-3 in a district championship game at Cuyahoga Community College in Parma. The Rovers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, upped their advantage to 5-1 in the fourth and put the game away with three more runs in the seventh. Five errors doomed United.

“But credit to our kids; we put the ball in play,” Waesch said. “We struck out a lot during the season. I told the kids, ‘Put the ball in play and at least give yourself a chance of getting on base.’ Over the second half of the season, when we started to get hot and started playing really good baseball, we started eliminating our strikeouts and making the defense make plays. When you do that in high school baseball, you give yourself a chance to score runs.”

Junior right fielder Alex Ely had a double, a single, an RBI and a run. White singled twice and drove in a run, and Hayn slugged an RBI triple and scored once.

“Alex really came on the second half of the year,” said Waesch. “He was our leadoff hitter and kind of set the table for our offense. When he got on base, we had a pretty good chance to score runs. He’s fast on the basepaths, too (he led the team with 26 runs and tied Hayn for the team lead with 18 stolen bases).

On the mound, senior Brady Kreitzburg started and went 5.2 innings in yielding two runs and four hits while fanning nine and walking four. Soika went the last 1.1 innings, giving up a run and three hits while striking out three in getting credited with a save.

“Brady was really an unsung hero for us this past season,” Waesch said. “Last year he struggled with his control; his strikeout-to-walk ratio was basically one-to-one a year ago. This past season, he struck out 78 and only walked 26, so it was a three-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio. His record was 7-0, and he had a 1.82 ERA and saved two games.”

The coach is thrilled that his team improved from 10-14 in 2024 to 18-10 this past season.

“I couldn’t be happier for our kids and the way they played, especially over the second half of the season,” he said. “In a conference where three of the five schools qualified for regionals, and two of the five schools are playing for a regional title, we’re very happy with the progress we made throughout the course of the season. We have four graduating seniors who we’re going to miss, but we have a lot of kids back who got valuable experience, and we have some kids coming up through the program who we feel are going to be contributors as well. I think the future of Rootstown baseball is extremely bright.”