(9) Kenston vs (1) Chaminade-Julienne
What: Division II state semifinal
When: 10 a.m., June 9
Where: Canal Park, 300 S. Main St., Akron
Records: Kenston 19-12, Chaminade-Julienne 24-5
Kenston’s path: Defeated Holy Name, 13-3, def. Lake Catholic, 5-2, def. Norwayne, 5-4, def. Gilmour, 4-2, def. NDCL, 4-2
Chaminade-Julienne’s path: Defeated Greenon, 10-0, def. Bellefontaine, 2-1, def. Indian Hill, 1-0, def. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, 5-1, def. Badin, 2-1
On deck: The winner will face the winner of Washington Court House-Ontario in the state final at 4 p.m., June 10
For the record: These teams enjoy playing in low-scoring games, and we could see that on tap again. Kenston enters on complete games on the mound from Parker Munday and Nikko Georgiou, while the bottom half of the batting order gave them support in both outings. But Kenston features strong bats all through its order and knows that it can get a big hit from any part of the lineup. Coupled with their strong showings in the field, the Bombers are on another state tournament run. … Chaminade-Julienne enters on a walk-off walk against Badin. The Eagles feature a two-headed attack of their own on the mound in Jackson Frasure (1.12 ERA) and Charlie Hoagland (1.26 ERA) to lead their staff. At the plate, they feature strong bats in JP Peltier (.431 batting average) and Jacob Brunner (.346). Frasure has also been strong at the plate as he leads the team in runs (19) and home runs (four). But both teams have similar approaches at the plate, not relying on the deep shots, rather making the small ball work. It could come down to who gets the run support early that advances to the state title game.
Hercik’s pick: Chaminade-Julienne
