The NDCL Lions Baseball Team competed in the OHSAA Division IV, Region14, District Semifinals on May 27 and the District Finals on May 29.
Game photos click here.
The NDCL Lions Baseball Team competed in the OHSAA Division IV, Region14, District Semifinals on May 27 and the District Finals on May 29.
In the District Semifinal matchup against the Jefferson Area Falcons on May 27 at Mentor High School, the Lions won a classic pitcher’s duel, 1-0, to advance to the District Finals.
Then, on May 29, the Lions season came to an end as they finished as OHSAA District Runners Up after losing a close 4-1 contest to the Benedictine Bengals at Louisville High School.
To advance to the District Finals, Lions junior pitcher Jack Montague was masterful on the mound against the Falcons.
In six innings of work, Montague did not allow a run, struck out seven, and only gave up three hits.
Against the Falcons, Montague was not worried about overpowering their hitters. Instead, he concentrated on pitching to contact, a concept he said his father often reminds him of.
“I went into the game just thinking about how great of a defense we have,” Montague said. “Just kind of (utilized) the approach of let them hit it and let them get it to our defense. They’re there to back me up, which they were.”
Relying on his fastball and curveball against the Falcons, out of 92 pitches thrown, Montague threw 30 curveballs (33%), 60 fastballs (65%) and two change ups.
Normally, Montague does not throw as many curveballs, but because of the success he was having with that pitch, he decided to use it more frequently against the Falcons.
“That’s a lot more curveballs than I usually throw,” Montague said. “But it was working great, it was keeping them off balance.”
NDCL Head Coach Marc Thibeault said that Montague did a great job of locating his pitches and keeping the Falcons hitters off balance.
“He was special,” Thibeault said. “Seven strikeouts, really effective inside the strike zone. All of his pitches were working for a strike. He was able to locate in and out and keep them off balance. Pretty much a dominating performance.”
To support Montague’s excellent pitching, the Lions got all the runs they needed in the bottom of the fourth inning.
After Robby Nahra and Charlie Stefancin drew walks with one out, two players were hit by pitches to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.
In the 7th inning, the Lions brought in standout Eastern Michigan University commit Frankie Clark to close out the game.
To get the save, Clark got the first batter to fly out to center field. He then got the next batter to ground into a double play to end the game.
“I came in there to close the game for one inning,” Clark said. “Coach Thibeault always says the best way to be a good teammate is to always be ready when called upon, and I wasn’t expecting to come into pitch, but I came in and did my job.”
With the 1-0 victory, the Lions next faced the Benedictine Bengals on May 29th for a chance to advance to the regional round of the OHSAA playoffs.
In a low scoring 4-1 District Finals loss to the Bengals, the Lions were led by Frankie Clark who was 1-3 with a double.
Clark’s sixth inning double led to the Lions only run.
After his double with one out, Clark advanced to third on a ground out. With two outs, Evan Eichas singled to left field to drive in Clark from third base.
The Lions brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh after two singles by Nick Dietrich and Joey Mazzolini. However, they were unable to plate any runs.
Afterwards, Coach Thiebault talked about the the District Finals game.
“We ran in to a hot team,” said Coach Thibeault. “They got a few timely hits, we pitched out of a couple of jams.
“We had a little bit of traffic on the bases for a couple innings and they were able to get positive outs which nullified our chances of being able to score a run. Their pitcher did an excellent job of keeping us off balance and we were not able to string quality at bats together.”
He was proud of the Lions’ effort. “We played well. The other team, to their credit, played better today,” the coach said.
With their District Runners Up finish, the Lions completed their 2025 season with an excellent 14-6 record.
Leading the Lions offensively for the season was senior Frankie Clark.
As one of the top high school players in Northeast Ohio, Clark completed the season with a .482 batting average and .600 on base percentage.
“It’s been a great career (at NDCL),” said Clark. “All three years was coach Thibeault as my head coach. Great coach, I learned a lot from him. I don’t think I’d be where I am without him. Great three years through the playoffs too. We’ve won a lot of games. I think I’ve learned a lot from this high school career. Forever grateful to be able to play at NDCL.”
