As Evan Fuller packed his baseball bag after the win of his life, he let his mind drift to his first climbs to the mound.
He was 10 years old again.
“I was tall. I didn’t throw that hard. I really liked to pitch,” he said.
Now a Hoover High School senior whose fastball has touched 92 mph, he made sure Wednesday’s OHSAA Division II regional semifinal wasn’t his last game in high school. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in leading the Vikings to a 4-0 win over Hudson. He finished with a complete-game, one-hitter.
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Hoover advanced to Thursday’s regional championship game against Amherst Steele, which beat Brecksville 6-0 in the regional doubleheader nightcap. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m., right back at Oberlin University. A win would send the Vikings to the third baseball final four in school history.
“Evan did what a No. 1 needed to do,” Hoover head coach Bryan Ashby said. “He attacked the zone. He went right at hitters. He was awesome today, absolutely awesome.
“He walked a few guys, but he was in control, and we were going to stick with him all the way.”
The 6-foot-6 Fuller was “on” out of the gate, striking out four and getting coaxing two weak ground-ball outs through two innings.
Hudson took a patient approach and worked a number of counts to two and three balls.
“I didn’t want to give them anything to hit,” Fuller said. “I just had to sit back and fight back in the count.”
Was a no-hitter on Fuller’s mind as the game progressed?
“A little bit,” he said, noting that he overheard a teammate mentioning “no-hitter” to another teammate in the dugout at one point.
Hoover’s defense was flawless when the Explorers did put the ball in play. Double plays ended threats in the third and fifth innings.
Senior Ryan Jones, Hudson’s 3-hole hitter, lined a one-out single in the sixth for the lone hit off Fuller.
“He did a good job keeping us off balance,” said Hudson head coach Buddy Dice. “They made all the defensive plays. They capitalized on some of our miscues.
“We’re proud of our team and our season. We won back-to-back district titles. Hudson baseball is healthy.”
Federal League co-champ Hoover improved to 24-4.
The Vikings gained a quick upper hand. Cleanup hitter Jack Ziarko singled to ignite a two-run second inning. Grady Jurica’s one-out single scored Ziarko. The Vikings had two on with one out when Bryce Gerstenslager hit a potential double play ball that produced a throwing error on the relay, scoring Roman Geiselman.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Vikings built a Geiselman double and walks to Carter Lukens and Ryan Cervenak into two runs. That was a big lead, given Fuller’s groove.
“You get a lot of nerves and tension in the regional semifinals,” Ashby said. “Our guys started settling in. We had baserunners all game. Our guys played composed, like they’ve been here before.
“We played at this very stadium two years ago in regional finals, and here we are again.”
Hudson fell 2-1 to Oregon Clay in last year’s regional. The Explorers hoped to neutralize Hoover with ace starting pitcher Jack Sutton and hitting standout/relief pitcher Chase Dennison, a Kent State commit.
North Canton Hoover baseball’s 2026 stat leaders
Hoover’s Jack Andes has had a momentous senior year, winning Federal League player of the year honors in football and baseball. Andes leads a Hoover offense that takes turns generating runs. RBI leaders are Lukens with 20, Andes and Ziarko with 19 apiece, Cook with 18, and Geiselman and Cervenak with 14 apiece.
Andes and Ziarko have four home runs apiece.
Fuller, sophomore Mason Groninger and junior Nolan Pellegrino are Hoover’s busiest pitchers, working 50, 35 and 34 innings. Andes is the closer.
Hoover and Hudson are about 30 miles apart but were complete strangers through the season. Hudson didn’t face a Stark County team and arrived with a modest 16-11 record, but almost all of the losses were close.
Hoover High School baseball’s OHSAA state tournament history
Hudson’s farthest advance in school history was the state semifinals in 1997. Hoover reached final fours in 1992 and 1999, when the head coach was Mel Long.
The ’92 team beat Elyria 5-1 in the Division I state semifinals, when David Yoder pitched a complete game and hit third in the lineup. The Vikings fell to Defiance in the state title game.
The ’99 team reached the final four with a 5-4 regional win over Grove City, then fell 4-3 to Cuyahoga Falls in the state semis at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton.
Now the 2026 Vikings are a win away from a third final four.
“If we can play Viking baseball,” Ashby said, “I like our chances.”
Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Hoover senior flirts with no-hitter, Vikings on verge of final four
Reporting by Steve Doerschuk, Canton Repository / The Repository
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By Steve Doerschuk, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
