By JOHN KEREZY, eyeoncleveland.com founder
AKRON, June 11 – Twelve times Berlin Hiland batters went to the plate in the fourth inning of today’s OHSAA Division VI State Semifinal contest against St. Henry HS here at 717 Credit Union Park (formerly Canal Park).
The Hawks entered their home half of the 4th down 2-0, but came out of the inning with a commanding 6-2 lead over the Redskins, who hail from Mercer County, 45 miles northwest of Dayton. Hiland added another run in the sixth inning to make the final score 7-2.
The triumph advances the 25-4 Hawks to the State Championship title game, Friday at 10 am at this same location, against the 24-4-1 Hartville Lake Center Christian Lions, who beat Galion Northmor 5-3 for the right to oppose Hiland. It sets up a rematch of the 2025 State title game, which Hiland won 5-4 on June 15, 2025.
[SECOND IN A SERIES: Here’s a link to the first story, about the eight senior members of the 2026 Hiland Hawks. https://eyeoncleveland.com/2026/06/10/state-bound-hiland-hawks-eight-seniors-lead-the-charge/ ]
It didn’t look promising for the Hawks at first. Hiland starter Mike Miller was fanning Redskin batters but giving up hits as well. St. Henry fashioned a two-run rally in the third when Tate Boeckman singled, advanced to second on a sacrifice, and scored on Jake Schwieterman’s two-out double. An error and a passed ball enabled Schwieterman to score as well.
But the tide turned when Hiland faced Redskin starter Max Delzeith the second time around in the lineup.
TOTAL TEAM EFFORT SECOND TIME AROUND
“We just kept telling our guys to put quality at-bats together, and it (hits) were going to come,” Hiland coach Chris Dages says in his post-game press interview. “We put together a a lot of good at-bats … whenever we can we would get an extra base hit and put runners in scoring position.”
Hear all of Coach Dages’ post-game press comments here:
Six different Hawks pounded out at least one hit — five of them for extra bases — and seven different Hiland runners scored in the contest. Perhaps none of them were bigger than Gerut Monigold’s triple leading off the fourth inning. It was the second time around for Hiland seeing St. Hentry starting pitcher Max Delzeith, and the scoring threat, made him to hurl from the stretch position for the nearly the entire inning.
“He (Delzeith) was a different pitcher when he was forced to come in from the stretch,” Dages explains.
After Gerut’s triple:
- Grady Monigold launched a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Gerut.
- Griffin Monigold lined a single to left.
- Jonah Yoder hit an RBI double, scoring Griffin. Game tied at 2-2.
- Andre Yoder had an 11-pitch at bat against Delzeith, and won the battle with a double over the left fielder Hudson Schmitz’s head. Hiland took the lead 3-2.
- Mike Miller launched a triple to right field, expanding the advantage to 4-2. St. Henry replaced Delzeith with Schmitz on the mound.
- Logan Yoder was hit by a pitch
- Isaiah Wagler walked
- Christian Mullet’s single scored Miller. It was 5-2 Hiland.
- Gerut Monigold, batting for the second time in the inning, singled home Logan Yoder. The Hawks led 6-2.
The 12 Hiland hitters in the fourth inning accounted for seven hits and six runs. For the day, right fielder Gerut Monigold went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Third baseman Jonah Yoder went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
See the Box Score here:
MILLER’S GEM
After that, Mike Miller was on cruise control. Mixing an occasional change-up and curve with his 85-mph fastball, the lanky lefty gave up only two hits in the final three innings of work. He finished the day facing 31 batters and hurling 105 pitches, 75 of them strikes, and fanned 15 St. Henry batters while allowing just two walks. He raised his record to 8-0 for the season with the win.
“Michael has been doing that all year for us,” Dages said after the game, praising his starter. “He’s our workhorse, our bulldog.”
Dages said that the 105 pitches were the most Miller has hurled all season in a single game. “But he won’t have any more games to throw,” the coach added, smiling. Only one of the two runs off Miller was earned.
WATCH! See Mike Miller’s pitch sequence in his final out for Hiland here:
Griffin Monigold called an excellent game behind the plate. Miller also tossed out three batters who made sacrifice bunts, meaning that he was involved directly in 18 of the 21 putouts in the contest.
WATCH! See some video of Thursday’s State Semifinal Game here:
PRAISE FROM ST. HENRY — TOUGH ASSIGNMENT
In his post-game press availability, St. Henry Coach Mike Gast admitted that his team faced a daunting challenge tangling with the Hawks.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task going against a three-time defending state champion,” he says. “That (Hiland) is a really good hitting team, and they began finding some barrels…. It was a battle to the very end … at the end, we kept chipping away, so I’m very proud of them (his team).
“Obviously we knew they are very good,” Gast added. “There were a couple of plays our outfielders probably would like back, but it’s a big, deep park and a long way to run,” he said.
St. Henry finished the season at 26-4, and brought a 13-game winning streak into the State Semifinal contest. It marked the seventh time that the Redskins had advanced to the semifinals.
GOING FOR THE FOUR-PEAT
Today’s victory advances Hiland to the state championship game against Lake Central Christian, Friday at 10 am here in Akron. No one could have imagined that back in early 2023 that, three-and-a-half years later, Hiland would be on the verge of winning four consecutive state titles.
They are now.
“We are thinking about it (a four-peat). We (coaches) thought we had the horses to do it, and (the players) have proven us right. We’ve had an unbelievable run so far. Hopefully we can carry it into one more game.”
Last year’s state title game is still fresh on the minds of both Coach Dages and Shane Byler, Coach of Lake Center Christian.
“They are a very good team. They are well coached, and they have a lot of good ball players,” Dages said.
He added that he believes his eight seniors are providing both leadership and on-the-field excellence that’s helped Hiland return to the title contest.
SEE THE LAKE CENTER CHRISTIAN VS GALION NORTHMOR BOX SCORE HERE:
“As soon as the (regular) season ends, I tell the guys – with the senior (going) out the door – ‘we haven’t done anything yet,’ we’ve got to put the work in,” Dages explained. They have. They want to see that success continue.”
Here’s the Hawks’ page in the 2026 OHSAA’s 98th annual state tournament program:
REMINDER: The OHSAA Division VI state title game will be played at 717 Credit Union Park, 300 South Main Street, Akron, OH 44308, beginning at 10 am Friday. See the first in this series for details on how to watch the livestream or hear the game on WKLM-FM. Follow @OHSAASPorts on X (formerly Twitter) for weather updates and delays.
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