The Miami Valley League baseball race is shaping up to be a fun one.
Troy (10-4, 9-1 MVL), Tippecanoe (7-5, 5-1), Piqua (9-4, 7-2) and Vandalia-Butler (9-5, 5-3) are all in contention right now. The Trojans and Indians had each won six consecutive games heading into Friday’s action, while the Red Devils had won six of their last seven, with the lone loss a 9-4 setback against Piqua.
Sidney, which was scheduled to host Troy on Friday, is tied for first place in the MVL Valley Division along with Xenia. Each have 5-4 league records; they’re scheduled to face off on Wednesday in Xenia.
I saw the Yellow Jackets lose 11-0 to Troy at Market Street Field on Tuesday. It was an impressive performance by the Trojans, who had four extra-base hits and nine total hits in four innings at the plate, drew eight walks and stole three bases. They didn’t commit an error, and senior pitcher Brian Allen scattered three hits and struck out 11 batters while walking two in five innings of work.
Troy has two Division I collegiate commits in junior infielder Ryder Kirtley (Virginia Tech) and senior infielder Connor Hutchinson (Ball State commit), as well as several Division III and junior college commits.
Allen, a senior, is one of the squad’s top pitchers and has a 1.24 ERA in 17 innings of work. Senior Tayce Mercer has a 1.62 ERA in 17 1/3 innings of work, and sophomore Hayden Frey has a 0.58 ERA in 12 innings of work. The team’s pitching staff has a cumulative ERA of 1.85, with 148 strikeouts in 87 innings.
Butler has won at least of share of the MVL title since the league’s first season in 2021 and tied with Troy last year. The Aviators will have to fight from behind this year after losing to the Trojans twice in the last week, including 6-4 on Thursday at Market Street Field.
The Trojans’ only MVL loss came on March 29 at Greenville. It was the second game of the season, and the squad lost 4-3. The Green Wave was outhit 7-5 but drew six walks without walking any of Troy’s batters.
Pleiman, Stonebraker to play in OHSBCA all-star game
Botkins’ Carter Pleiman and Versailles’ Connor Stonebraker will play in the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association’s all-star game this Friday at Olentangy Liberty High School.
I’ve been to the state all-star games once. If you feel like making the drive to the Columbus area for it, you can count on seeing a good exhibition of athleticism from some of the state’s top outgoing seniors.
Among other players who participate, a few Dayton-area players will join Pleiman and Stonebraker on the “South” team: Centerville’s Gabe Cupps (Indiana signee), Chaminade-Julienne’s George Washington III (Michigan) and Wayne’s Lawrent Rice (Murray State). All three were first team all-state selections in their respective divisions.
Pleiman was a second team all-Ohio selection in Div. IV and Stonebraker was a third team selection in D-III. Pleiman, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward, averaged 19.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Stonebraker, a 6-8 forward, averaged 22.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
Speaking of Cupps and Washington III…
The two chairpersons of the Southwest district group of Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association members emailed me earlier this week expressing some displeasure over my April 1 column, “Washington III’s absence in Mr. Basketball discussion is perplexing.”
They both said Washington III was discussed during the online meeting (despite my lack of memory of that happening), and there is a recording to prove it. I’ll take their word for it.
Nonetheless, it’s still a shameful job by the group as a whole not to have recommended Washington to be a Mr. Basketball candidate, along with Cupps.
After all, the group recommended two girls players as Ms. Basketball nominees… and they finished in the top two in voting.
Billing has been the sports editor of the Sidney Daily News since 2017. He can be reached at [email protected].
