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2026 OHSAA Tournament: Division VI State Semifinal - #4 Lake Center Christian vs #7 Northmor

AKRON - Lake Center Christian is back in the Division VI state championship game after a 5-3 win over Northmor on Thursday.

Grant Coblentz had two hits, scored a run and earned the save, retiring the final five batters of the game for LCC.

The Tigers, which lost to Hiland 5-4 in the title game a year ago, jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Coblentz reached on a HBP and scored on a Caleb Shelly triple. Nathan Bryant hit a sac fly before a Colten Smilek single, a stolen base and a run-scoring base hit from Brayden Myers.

Coblentz had an RBI single in the second to plate Aaron Zietlow who reached on an error, but Northmor pulled within 4-2 on an unearned run in the third and a run without the benefit of a hit in the fourth.

Smilek scored a run in the fifth to make it 5-3, coming home on an error after a hit by Myers.

Bryant, an Ohio State commit, went the first four innings to pick up the win for the fourth-ranked team in Ohio before Shelly came in to relieve in the fifth. With two on and one down in the sixth, Coblentz was summoned in and retired five straight, three on strikes, to move the Tigers to 24-4-1.

HOT TAKES

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Coblentz, the leadoff hitter for LCC, reached base on three of four plate appearances and added an RBI,  run scored and stolen base. Additionally, the eighth-ranked junior southpaw in Ohio earn the save while throwing 18 of 25 pitches for strikes.

KEY MOVE: Lake Center Christian head coach Shane Byler pulled the right moves with his pitchers and has both Shelly and Coblentz available for the finals after each threw 25 pitches, less than the 30 permitted to take the mound the following day after a game.

WHAT'S NEXT?: With five underclassmen in the starting lineup, Northmor has promise for next season led by center fielder Chapman, a three-hole hitting sophomore who gunned down a runner for a double play in the fourth and reached base twice. Sophomore Brody Beck, who played third, brings experience back on the mound with left-handed hitting first baseman Jack Bowdre and junior five-hole outfielder Ethan Hinton, who each had one of the five hits by the seventh-rated Golden Knights, other key returnees for veteran head coach Buck Workman.

LINESCORE

Northmor                        001  101 0  -  3   5  3
Lake Center Christian     310  010  x  -  5  10 1

Records: Lake Center Christian 24-4-1, Northmor 25-6.

Winning Pitcher: Nathan Bryant (4 innings, 2 runs, 1 earned run, 2 hits, 3 strikeouts, 3 walks). Other: Caleb Shelly, Grant Coblentz.

Losing Pitcher: Trevor Brubaker (6 innings, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, 10 hits, 7 strikeouts, 0 walks, 2 HBP).

Leading Hitters: (Northmor) - Jack Bowdre single; Trevor Brubaker single; Brady Chapman run; Billy Bowlin single, run; Ethan Hinton single; Brady Carr single, run. (Lake Center Christian) - Grant Coblentz 2 singles, run, RBI; Luke Heckert single; Caleb Shelly triple, run, RBI; Colten Smilek single, 2 runs; Brayden Myers 2 singles, RBI; Jacob Rainieri 2 singles; Aaron Zietlow single, run.

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