CANTON – The Watterson baseball team’s approach in the first inning of a Division III state semifinal June 11 looked like brute efficiency, and the player whose big blow propelled the Eagles into their first championship game since 1997 essentially confirmed that with a smile.
“See ball, hit ball,” junior catcher Ben Uhlenhake said.
Watterson roughed up Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy starting pitcher Kyle Shaw early at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, scoring four times in the first with a mix of patient and aggressive at-bats to roll to a 5-1 victory.
Uhlenhake’s three-run home run ultimately was the game-winner, coming after junior outfielder Caden Mangini hit a standing double to left field on the game’s second pitch and scored on an error.
Senior third baseman Michael Wozniak singled and senior first baseman Mike Mulligan walked ahead of Uhlenhake’s home run, his fourth of the year, on a slider down the middle of the plate.
“I prayed to God. I asked him, ‘Please allow me to have a huge hit for my team,’ ” Uhlenhake said. “We know that [starter] Ben Burleson throws a ton of strikes and he won’t let up a bunch of runs. He hammers the zone, so we knew it we could jump on them early, it would be a safe win.”
Five Eagles had one hit apiece, powering Watterson (27-3) into the final against Hamilton Badin (29-3) at 7 p.m. June 12 at 7 17 Credit Union Park in Akron.
Badin defeated Parma Padua 5-2 in the first semifinal.
Watterson is going for its fourth title. The others came in 1988, 1991 and 1997.
The Eagles drove Shaw from the game after a 26-pitch inning and had only two hits thereafter, but the damage already was done.
“[Uhlenhake] often gets pitched in reverse,” Watterson coach Jeff Boulware said. “He is such a big kid [6-foot, 215 pounds] and he sees a lot of spinners, so he has done an awesome job in terms of his training to get better hitting the off-speed pitch to the point that he now sits on those.
“When he gets into one, it doesn’t come back.”
Burleson, a senior, took care of the rest on the mound, scattering six hits and striking out three without a walk on 83 pitches. Burleson induced eight groundouts and nine flyouts in a game that took 1 hour, 46 minutes.
“I give all credit to my defense,” Burleson said. “I try to pound the [strike] zone as much as I can and I know they will make plays. That’s my game plan.
“My fastball [works well], just pounding the corners, getting strikes and ripping my slider and changeup in and letting them put into plays. I’ve always been that pitcher. Pounding strikes is the name of the game for me.”
First-time state qualifier CVCA (23-10) scored in the second on a single from reliever Alex Mammone.
Watterson scored its final run in the fourth. Burleson led off with a double and advanced home on sacrifices from senior outfielder Caiden Holcomb and senior shortstop Connor Adkins Davidson.
Given injuries to his pitching staff throughout the season, Boulware was not immediately sure who will pitch the final.
Boulware was a starting third baseman on the 1997 championship team. His coach, Scott Manahan – now the head coach at Capital University – was in attendance June 11.
“The cool part about this is coach Manahan is one of my closest friends,” Boulware said. “I am probably one of the only guys who can say I played for him, I coached against him when I was at [Worthington] Kilbourne and I coached with him. We are so blessed to have somebody with his knowledge helping us out, and we are thrilled to have one more game.”
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Watterson baseball to play for OHSAA state championship
