St. Bede’s record-setting season ends in regional final

TOULON - Heading into the Class 1A Stark County Regional championship on Saturday, St. Bede baseball coach Bill Booker knew beating No. 4-seeded Midland wasn’t going to be an easy task.

His thoughts proved right, as the No. 1-seeded Bruins fell 4-2, ending their season at 27-5.

“This was a beautiful day for our bats to be cold,” Booker said. “I give Midland a lot of credit. They hit when they needed to and they played great defense. They were better (Saturday). They’re well coached by Xavier Warren and they’re the most improved team in the Tri-County Conference this year. The TCC was a great conference for baseball this year.”

After St. Bede put Midland in a two-out situation on two pitches in the top of the first, it seemed to be a sign of how the game was going to go.

The next batter, first baseman Gavin Traver hit a home run over the left field fence and the Timberwolves (13-14-3) never lost the lead.

St. Bede tied the game in the bottom of the third when Geno Dinges hit a double, was brought to third on a single by Ranbir Saini and scored on a sacrifice fly from Gus Burr.

However, Midland scored two runs in the top of the fifth to take a 3-1 advantage.

Bruins left fielder AJ Hermes hit a home run in the bottom of the sixth, but that was the last scoring opportunity for St. Bede as Midland added an insurance run in the seventh for the 4-2 final.

“We can’t let this game define our season. We had a great season and set a school record with 27 wins,” Booker said. “At this time of the year, you have to be firing on all cylinders, and we haven’t been the last few games of the season. If you can’t get any offense going, it catches up with you against good defense.

“Our goal was 30 wins and we fell short, but this was a great team of guys who wanted to play baseball. We will miss our two seniors, Aidan Mullane and Alan Spencer, they did everything we asked of them. We have a young team which got better through the season and we expect them to improve heading into next season.”

Gino Ferrari was the losing pitcher as he allowed three hits and three earned runs, while striking out six and walking four in 4 2/3 innings. Saini and Dinges both pitched in relief.

At the plate, St. Bede recorded six hits, including the Hermes home run, doubles by Dinges and Spencer, and singles from Burr, Saini and Dinges.

Midland advances to play Heyworth in the Class 1A St. Bede Sectional semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

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(2) Gus Burr of St. Bede walks with a distraught (5) Stuart McGunnigal on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at Stark County High School in Toulon. (MaKade Rios for Shaw Media)