Between the two of them, Jack Kramer and Chuck McBee of ScoresBroadcast.com will cover their 29th Division IV regional baseball tournament on Thursday and Friday in Springfield.
As they have for the last nine years, the duo describes the action on SCORES with play-by-play and color of the regional semifinals on Thursday at 1:45 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. and the final on Friday at 4:45.
SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System, which covers high school sports in Shelby County and in a portion of the Midwest Athletic Conference including Minster and Versailles.
Kramer was the director of marketing and public relations at Edison Community College in Piqua for 25 years. He has announced the play-by-play of more than 3,000 college and high school contests on the radio, television and Internet. McBee, also a long-time announcer, lives in Piqua and has been connected to high school sports for much of his life.
Having spent several years on the air for radio station WMVR-FM in Sidney, Kramer goes behind the microphone on Thursday for his 20th baseball regional in the last 21 years. During five of these years, he covered Minster and Fort Loramie when they won regional and state championships. Minster took state titles in 2011, 2012, and 2017. Fort Loramie won state crowns in 2007 and 2010.
Minster nipped Russia 2-1 in last year’s state championship game. Under fourth year head coach Kevin Philpot, this month marks the Raiders’ third appearance in the regional since 2015.
Cincinnati Christian, Russia’s opponent on Thursday in the first semi-final, is the youngest team in the regional, featuring five freshmen starters.
The Cougars have reeled off seven straight triumphs after dropping below .500 at 7-8 a month ago. Minster owns a 10-game win string. Fort Loramie has won 17 of its last 19.
Thursday’s 2 p.m. contest features Russia’s robust offense versus Cincinnati Christian’s dominating ace. The Raiders have two hitters. Hunter Cohee and Carter Francis, who fashion batting averages near .450 for the season. The Cougars starting pitcher, Mitchell Smith, is averaging ten strikeouts every seven innings and walks only two batters per game.
The second regional semi-final is the rubber game of three this spring pairing Minster and Fort Loramie. The Redskins and Wildcats split two regular season battles.
Jeff Sanders, the Skins head coach, and Mike Wiss, the Cats head coach, were teammates and pitchers for the University of Dayton during their college careers.
Earlier this year, Wiss was named to the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He has coached baseball at Minster for 24 seasons.
