The Berkshire Badgers’ baseball team has become adept at making some noise in the playoffs. The Badgers earned a berth in the district playoffs with some clutch hitting to beat Newton Falls 6-1 in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III Northeast 1 sectional championship last Wednesday.
“It is a big deal,” said Coach Nick Burzanko. “We talk about it in our program that since I took over five years ago starting from the COVID year, we have won at least one tournament game so it has been a running order that we at least want to make some noise in the playoffs.”
It will be the first time Berkshire (15-8, 9-2) has appeared in a district semifinal since the 2021 season, when they won a district championship, only the fifth one in program history, and have been searching for a way back ever since.
“To play in our district, there are always a lot of really good teams and a lot of well-coached teams so if you are not playing the right way at the right time, everybody is able to be beaten on any single day,” noted the fifth-year coach.
Through the first four innings, it was a scoreless affair but according to the five-year coach, the Badgers were getting closer and closer to finally breaking the tie by putting runners on base in the last two innings.
In the bottom half of the fifth frame, Berkshire loaded the bases with one out and senior second baseman Ethan Martin broke the deadlock by delivering a two-run single to left field, pushing the Badgers ahead 2-0.
“Ethan got himself into a 2-2 count and ended up getting a ball he could handle,” Burzanko said. “He is a big strong kid and I do not think he really swung that hard, but he was able to get it past the third base line and we were able to push two runs across in that situation and it just took off from there.”
Berkshire added to its lead by getting some help from Newton Falls when senior designated hitter Louis Filby’s ground ball to first base was mishandled to load the bases again. Senior center fielder Jack Hastings hit a RBI-single to left field and junior third baseman Abram Southern plated another run when he was hit by a pitch, extending Berkshire’s advantage to 4-0.
Although the Tigers responded by scoring a run in the top of the sixth inning on a RBI-double to center field off the bat off of senior right fielder Owen Gazada, Berkshire countered by adding two more runs in the bottom half on a two-run single to right field by Filby, building a 6-1 cushion.
Sophomore right-hander Patrick Brancel was nearly untouchable, hurling seven innings while allowing only one run on four hits, issuing no walks and striking out 12 batters.
“He has been doing that all year and that has been a testament to him in the offseason and really putting in work and getting things taken care of with his body and being able to handle that load,” Burzanko said.
Berkshire’s dominating victory against the Tigers in their home finale wrapped up an exciting week of baseball, as before beginning tournament action the Badgers defeated CVC Valley Division foe Wickliffe in their regular season finale to clinch a share of the league title, sharing it with the defending champion Kirtland.
“I think it has been a long time coming and we have always finished on the coattails right behind Kirtland, but by splitting with them earlier in the season, we put ourselves in a good situation after they lost to Cardinal, to win the CVC Valley Division outright but we had our little hiccup there against Cardinal to even the conference series so we had to go out and win and I am super proud of the kids,” said Burzanko.
It marked the first time that Berkshire earned at least a share of the CVC Valley Division banner since the 2015 season and Burzanko said the Badgers expect to be in the conversation for the conference championship for the next several years. While acknowledging his players’ hard work to become CVC Valley Division co-champions, he said Berkshire’s returning players will have their eyes set on keeping the league title to themselves.
The Badgers’ postseason run ended when they were defeated 10-1 by Chagrin Valley Conference rival Perry in the district semifinal on Monday.
