The Kenston Bombers were led on the mound this season by senior Jimmy Cerha, and May 30 in the OHSAA Regional Semifinal was no exception.
The Kenston Bombers were led on the mound this season by senior Jimmy Cerha, and May 30 in the OHSAA Regional Semifinal was no exception.
Cerha, the Ohio University commit, was again dominant as he led Kenston to an 8-0 victory over the CVCA Royals.
In throwing a complete game shutout, Cerha only allowed two hits while striking out eight.
For his senior season, he finished with a 4-0 record and an amazing earned run average of 0.32.
He’d Cerha struck out 59 batters over 44 innings of work.
After the win, Cerha discussed his approach on the mound against the Royals.
“Same approach today as my last outing,” Cerha said. “Threw my slider early in the counts, and the change-up, and then threw the fastball by them at the end.”
For many of Cerha’s strikeouts, he caught the Royals’ batters looking. He said when that occurred, he usually threw his fastball or slider.
Afterward, Bombers Head Coach Joe Hritz also discussed Cerha’s excellent pitching performance.
“He absolutely had a day out there,” Coach Hritz said. “Eighty-three-pitch complete game, eight strikeouts (and) two hits against a team that’s been rolling through districts against very premium opponents.”
Kenston’s offense was led by senior University of Akron commit LA Mighton, who went 3-4 (2 doubles, 2 RBIs).
“It was really a whole-team effort,” Mighton said. “Jimmy threw a great game. I think our pitching is really what we had to get behind. When our pitchers throw really well, it gets our bats going.”
And certainly Mighton got the bats going for the Bombers, as he drove in the game-winning run in the top of the third inning.
Jack Latz singled to start the third inning, then moved to third base on Grant Beclay’s sacrifice bunt. Latz then scored on Mighton’s RBI single to left field.
The Bombers took a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning when Mighton drove in an insurance run with a two-out double, scoring Latz from third base.
After adding a run in the sixth inning, the Bombers scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Mighton got the top of the seventh started with his third hit of the game, a line-drive double. Avery Siperke then gave the Bombers a 4-0 lead on an RBI single.
The Bombers added four more runs with two outs in the seventh inning.
After scoring on a line-drive RBI single by Wes Toth, who was 2-4 on the day, the Bombers added two more runs on a triple by Dylan Krupp.
Grady Flynn’s RBI single scored Krupp from third base for the final score.
This would be the third consecutive year Kenston played in the Regional Final.
Competing against the West Branch Warriors for the title on May 31, the Bombers took an early first-inning 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout by Toth, which scored Beclay from third base.
West Branch plated a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie things up, and the score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the seventh.
That’s when the Warriors scored again on a one-out RBI single to make it 2-1 and claim the title for themselves.
