Celebrating the talent of the present generation and the upcoming young guns of tomorrow, through America's pasttime, is truly special.

Today's talent, a part of the Shawnee State baseball program, put on a show for the youth and fans in attendance in Saturday's doubleheader at Branch Rickey Park in Portsmouth.

In a resounding and historic Senior Day sweep of the Ohio Christian baseball program, Rob Ehlers' baseball program celebrated seven seniors -- Dylan Driskill, Eric Oakes, Noah Sniadach, Logan Green, Noah Rezner, Nolan Tressler and Kyle Eslick -- in grand fashion.

Down 5-0 after the opening half-inning of work in Game 1, the Bears made the early deficit a distant memory as Shawnee State went yard six times and scored in each of the six frames that it came to bat in Game 1 en route to posting a 25-8 victory over the Trailblazers in the opener. In the second contest, Shawnee State left nothing to chance -- clinching the series by scoring in each of the first three innings of play in Game 2 including a 13-run second frame in the Bears' 18-3 triumph in Game 2.

This sealed a Saturday where Shawnee State, who got a Nolan Tressler home run in Game 2 to collect seven bombs on the day, nabbed 43 runs on 28 hits in the second game triumph.

The seven home runs -- along with the seven seniors honored -- proved to be a lucky number on Saturday for the Bears.

• In scoring 43 runs in Saturday's River States Conference doubleheader, Shawnee State scored the most runs in a doubleheader against a conference opponent in program history.
• The 43 runs are second against any opponent in program history, and are the most since March 14, 1998 -- when the Bears scored 28 runs each to accumulate 56 runs in 28-0 and 28-1 victories over Fisk (Tenn.).
• Shawnee State's 25 runs in Game 1 against Ohio Christian account for the most runs that the Bears have ever scored against a conference opponent in program history. The previous high was set on March 30, 2012 against Pikeville, when SSU claimed a 23-0 victory over UPike.
• The 25 runs in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader tied for the highest run output in any game in over 12 years. Beside the previously mentioned contests against Fisk, only Shawnee State's 38-1 victory over Ohio-Chillicothe back on March 28, 2012 was a greater amount than what the Bears put up in Saturday's Game 1 victory.
• Noah Sniadach went 5-for-5 at the plate with two home runs, two doubles and 10 RBI by himself in Game 1. The senior, a career .314 hitter with 148 hits to his credit entering Saturday's play, eclipsed the 150-hit mark for his career and now holds the most RBI in a single game since SSU baseball stats were kept by Dakstats back in 2006 and PrestoStats beginning in 2022.

Game 1

Early stages

Down 5-0 after the opening half-inning of work, Shawnee State wasted no time making up the deficit, as after a walk by Noah Sniadach, Eric Oakes left little doubt on a two-out swing that ultimately resulted in a two-run homer to left center field -- cutting the Ohio Christian lead to a 5-2 margin after an inning of play.

In the second frame of action, Tyler Lund and Ryan Scott then went yard themselves -- as the No. 8 and No. 9-hole hitters in the Shawnee State lineup lifted back-to-back home runs out of the ballpark to pull Shawnee State within a 5-4 margin, with Scott's home run being an oppo-taco.

Crooked third

Ohio Christian scored a run in the third inning to take a 6-4 advantage, but in the bottom half of the same frame, the Bears completely overwhelmed the Trailblazers with a 10-run jaunt -- as Shawnee State drew five walks with two additional SSU batters being hit by pitches in the frame -- allowing the Bears to turn the two-run deficit into a 9-6 Shawnee State advantage -- with just one out in the frame.

Sniadach and Oakes, however, made sure that the inning didn't end without fireworks. The former, a talented three-hole hitter, blasted a grand slam to right field, while the latter followed Sniadach's efforts up with a no-doubt, solo home run to left field -- turning the game on its heels as the 10-run third-frame made the score 14-6 in favor of Shawnee State.

Finishing out the blowout

Following an RBI double by Sniadach that scored Nolan Tressler to put Shawnee State's lead to a 15-8 count after four innings of play, the Bears exploded for six more runs in the fifth inning as Zach Gaspar walked, advanced to third on a single by Michael De Jesus, then stole home on nifty baserunning by both Gaspar and De Jesus on excellent work on the basepaths by the duo as well as Ehlers and first base coach Ben Bennett.

Then with two out in the same frame, Scott's walk turned the lineup over to Tressler and Diego Mendoza, who lifted back-to-back RBI singles into the outfield to plate De Jesus and Scott. Continuing to swing a hot bat, Sniadach then rocketed a three-run bomb to right field, putting Shawnee State ahead by a 21-8 margin after five innings complete.

The Bears capped off their jaunt by adding in a four-run sixth frame -- where Noah Rezner tripled down the line to score Zach Gaspar. Rezner then scored on a wild pitch, and following a walk by Scott, a single by Eli Jones and a hit batter, Sniadach collected a two-RBI base knock to finalize the contest's scoring.

Game 2

Quick work

In Game 2, Shawnee State worked quickly as an error and a passed ball immediately allowed Nolan Tressler to come across as the contest's first run, giving SSU a 1-0 lead over Ohio Christian to begin Game 2.

13 is a lucky number

The Bears then went on an absolute tear in the second frame of action -- as a grand total of 17 batters came to the plate in a massive 13-run second inning.

A single by Zach Gaspar was followed by an RBI double by Michael De Jesus and an RBI single by Tyler Lund to push the Shawnee State lead to a 3-0 margin.

Lund then stole second, Ryan Scott doubled to right field to bring in Lund, and Nolan Tressler reached on a groundball to the right side that was mishandled, allowing Scott to score to push the lead to a 5-0 tally.

Four Shawnee State walks then resulted in two additional runs coming in to score, and a two-RBI base hit to right field by Michael De Jesus, along with an RBI double into the left center field gap by Tyler Lund, pushed Shawnee State's lead to a 10-0 count.

Scott then poked a single into center field to drive in two additional runs, and after a steal of second by Scott, Tressler, who just missed clobbering a homer on the previous pitch that went foul off to the right side, got every bit of a ball that hit a lightpole beyond the center field fence for a two-RBI homer that pushed the Shawnee State lead to an insurmountable 14-0 lead after two innings of work.

Zach Gaspar, who singled, scored on an RBI triple to right field by Michael De Jesus to push the lead to a 15-0 margin, and in the sixth frame, Kyle Eslick's RBI double was followed by an error and a walk to finalize the score.

Additional

In addition to Noah Sniadach's previously mentioned Game 1 output, Nolan Tressler (3-for-6, double, home run, three walks, five RBI, six runs scored), Zach Gaspar (3-for-5, double, walk, RBI, six runs scored), Michael De Jesus (4-for-9, triple, double, four RBI, three runs scored), Tyler Lund (3-for-7, home run, double, walk, four RBI, four runs scored) and Ryan Scott (3-for-5, home run, double, two walks, five RBI, six runs scored) led the Bears in both contests.

Noah Rezner's Game 1 triple, RBI and run scored and a Game 2 walk, Kyle Eslick's RBI double in his lone Game 2 at-bat and a run scored by pinch-runner Dylan Driskill were among the additional seniors who contributed, while Eric Oakes went 2-for-4 with two home runs, three RBI and three runs scored in Game 1 and threw four innings without allowing a run in Game 2 with seven strikeouts to boot in those four innings before relief pitching was sent in to replace Oakes in order to give additional pitchers reps.

More on the seven-man senior class, which also includes Logan Green, will be coming following the conclusion of the Shawnee State-Ohio Christian series on Monday.

In additional matters, the Shawnee State baseball program and Shawnee State Athletics would like to thank the 2024 Twelvepole Tribe for attending Saturday's contests. Each of the players below walked out with a member of the Shawnee State baseball program who started in the Game 1 lineup. The players on the Twelvepole teams are as follows:

8U: Luke Isom, Jayden Chapman, Rylan Phillips, Miles Wetzel, Ezekiel Mills

9U: Eli Workman, Easton Chinn, Remy Bare, Hunter Shockley, Reid Perry, Henrey Wilks, Noah Mills, Parker Chinn, John Lewis Barksdale

10U: Abe Gonzales, Billie Stone, Tucker Montgomery, Declan Perry, Jackson Atkins, Evan Robertson, Keagan Marsh, Bristol Wilburn, Jace Reynolds

11U and 12U: Trevor Morgan, Alexander White, Keegan Kilgore, Everett Copeland, Nathan Coy, Jamison Jarrells, Jace Falls, Elijah Mills

Shawnee State (19-19, 13-7 River States Conference) will play Ohio Christian (11-25, 8-12 RSC) Monday, April 15 to conclude the three-game series at Branch Rickey Park. Game time is set for 1 p.m.

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