CANTON — Kenyon Oakes enjoyed his front-row view from center field as Ethan O’Byrne continued his rise among Jackson High School pitchers on Wednesday, June 3.
O’Byrne fired a complete-game two-hitter in a 4-0 Division I high school baseball regional semifinal win over St. Ignatius. The Polar Bears advanced to Thursday’s regional final against Perrysburg at 5 p.m. at Thurman Munson Stadium.
“Being at Jackson for the last two years, I’ve watched some amazing pitchers including Landen Doll, including Jeff Oister, including Landon Thiel,” Oakes said. “Ethan O’Byrne is up next. He’s a name you’re going to want to know. He was just dominant here today. Last time he was at Munson against the McKinley Bulldogs, a no-hitter with 16 punchouts. He’s just dominant. He’s next up.”
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O’Byrne retired nine of the first 10 Ignatius hitters, locating his fastball and off-speed pitches on the outside corner. He didn’t allow a base runner from the fifth inning on.
“It was big,” O’Byrne said. “One of our dudes went down and I was just doing it for him. I put everything I had for him and got it done.”
Jackson head coach Bill Gamble was not surprised by O’Byrne’s performance.
“He’s been trending well the last month,” Gamble said.” He’s turned into an elite arm. You saw it on display today. Even as he got a little tired, and adrenaline went down a little bit, he was able to compete and made some really big pitches.”
Consider St. Ignatius coach Brad Ganor impressed by O’Byrne.
“He was fantastic,” Ganor said. “I don’t think Bill could have drawn it up any better honestly. For that kid to have the composure he did, we already faced him once and we were able to get to him. For him to come back and shut us down is a testament to him and what a great job he did.”
O’Byrne ran into trouble in the fourth. Ignatius loaded the bases with one out. But Oakes settled under a fly ball off the bat of Ryan Whelan in center field. He made the catch and fired a dart to senior Luke Leatherberry. The third baseman made the tag before a run scored for a double play. It sparked a heated argument between the home plate umpire and the Ignatius third base coach.
“That was the most fired up I’ve been all season,” O’Byrne said. “Kenny is one hell of a (expletive) player. For him to do that, that’s just what he does. He makes plays.”
“Just trying to make the play and get under it,” Oakes said. “In the back of my head, I know I can’t get the runner at home. So it was a 3-0 game at the time. If you can hold the runners on first and second, it takes a double or triple in the gap to tie the game. I made a great throw and the runner didn’t hustle from third to home.”
Senior catcher Joey Olivieri got Jackson (20-8) going with an RBI single to right in the second. In the third, Oakes scored on a wild pitch to the backstop and Leatherberry roped an RBI single. Geno Szymanski added an RBI single in the seventh.
The Polar Bears and Wildcats were delayed an hour-plus after Perrysburg defeated Strongsville 7-6 in 11 innings in Wednesday’s first semifinal. Jackson will look to carry momentum into Thursday’s regional final.
“Survive and advance from here on out,” O’Byrne said. “Polar Bears are hot.”
The Canton Repository sports department can be contacted via email at sports@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ethan O’Byrne shows why teammate says he’s next up as a Jackson ace
Reporting by Walt Doerschuk, Correspondent / The Repository
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By Walt Doerschuk, Correspondent | USA TODAY Network
