Miamisburg, Ohio — The 2021 OHSAA baseball season kicked off on Saturday at Toadvine Field. Miamisburg, led by a pair of Louisville commits in Dane Hall and Will Cook hosted Loveland. The Tigers would feature southpaw Xavier commit Jake Zicka. Hall would get the start for Miamisburg which would be his first appearance since his freshman year due to injuries.
Hall got off to a bit of a slow start as he hit the first batter. He then proceeded to walk the next batter. Hall would settle down though as he forced the next batter to pop out and then Miamisburg’s catcher Ethan Watkins threw-out a runner trying to steal third. The next hitter would get on after Hall couldn’t get to the swinging bunt fast enough but he would strike out the next batter to retire the side.
Will Cook drew a walk but the rest of the Miamisburg order was set down in the first inning as Zicka was dealing early on. Hall set down the Loveland lineup one, two, three in the second inning. Zicka would do the same in the second inning as he also set down the Viking lineup in order.
Hall walked a batter in the third and he advanced into scoring position off of a wild pitch. The Louisville commit would bounce back as struck out the next two hitters to end the half inning.
Ethan Waktins hit a first pitch bomb into deep left field for a homerun. This broke the scoreless tie and put Miamisburg up 1-0. Then Blake O’Bryan would get a blooper to fall into shallow right field before forcing Zicka to balk after his jumpiness on the base path. Ardin Mitchell advanced O’Bryan to third on a ground out and then Sam Boardwine came through as he hit a hard grounder through the hole and into left field to extend the lead to 2-0.
Zicka then walked Will Cook before Austin Amburgey opened the game up with a huge double off the wall to make it 3-0. Dane Hall would be intentionally walked to load the bases. Nathan Ennis took full advantage off that as took a ground ball the other way and scored two runs off a single into right field. This would make the score 5-0 in favor of the Vikings and this also ended Jake Zicka’s day as the Xavier commit let up 5 runs over 2 1/3 innings of work.
The bleeding wouldn’t stop there though as Ethan Watkins delivered an RBI double with 2 outs to extend the lead to 6-0. Then Blake O’Bryan made it 8-0 with a 2 RBI double into the left field corner. Ardin Mitchell would score O’Bryan with an RBI single as the Viking lead moved to nine. Then after a Sam Boardwine walk, Louisville commit Will Cook extended the lead to double digits with an RBI single into centerfield. Austin Amburgey drove the ball into left field which scored two runs and gave Miamisburg a commanding 12-0 lead. Zachary Bebout finally got out of the inning as the Loveland pitcher went 2/3 of an inning and gave up 7 earned runs.
Dane Hall forced the first two batters to strikeout and then the next to ground out as that would conclude his day. Hall went 4 strong innings while only allowing 1 hit and 0 runs. He struck out six batters and had two walks as his senior season started off on the right foot.
Loveland got a couple of baserunners aboard in the 5th inning and after Will Cook overthrew the first basemen on a groundball, the Tigers got on the board. Ardin Mitchell was able to close out the game as he ended up allowing two runs, only one of which was earned. Miamisburg won 12-2 in five innings as they run ruled Loveland to open up their season and improve to 1-0.
Some top performers from Miamisburg were Austin Amburgey who went 2-3 with a double and 3 RBI’s. Ethan Waktins also went 2-3 with a homerun and 2 RBI’s. Nate Ennis went 1-3 with 2 RBI’s and Blake O’Bryan went 2-3 with a double and 2 RBI’s. The Vikings will face Edgewood at home on Monday to continue their 2021 campaign.