With his team's home victory over Whiteford on Tuesday, Chris Hardman of Ottawa Hills became the 13th baseball coach in Ohio high school history to reach 700 career victories.
The Green Bears used a walk-off hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning to take a hard-fought 2-1 win over the visiting Bobcats in a nonleague, interstate battle between two teams that went deep in their respective state tournaments last June.
Hardman, 72, who is now 700-541 in his 44th season guiding the Green Bears, saw his team move to 5-2 overall on the 2024 season with the win on the field that bears his name.
“I've had 44 years of kids that could play, and that [700-541 record] only happens if you play good people,” Hardman said. “You get beat, and you grow. That's what today was about.
“We're not stopping at 700. We have a pretty good ball team, and we have good kids coming. I have as much energy as I've ever had, and we have a great community for baseball. I'm very, very lucky.”
Junior Jackson Snyder, who had pitched the first five innings for Ottawa Hills, had driven in Reddik Pillarelli with the Bears' first run with a first-inning single, and scored the winning run after leading off the ninth with a double to the gap in left-center.
Whiteford freshman relief pitcher Tre Eitniear then walked Ottawa Hills' Sebastian Stevens and Luke Gnepper to load the bases before hitting Green Bears winning pitcher Noah Hamilton with a pitch to force home the winning run.
“I was more than happy,” Hamilton said of absorbing the baseball with his back. “That's the best-feeling hit by pitch I've ever had. It felt good to take that one for the team.”
Hard-throwing Bobcats right-hander Logan Tammerine had held Ottawa Hills in check after yielding the first-inning run, striking out 11 Green Bears while yielding just three hits over six innings.
“What you witnessed today was two really good baseball teams that pitched the ball wonderfully,” Hardman said. “I felt like we could win the game in that inning. “There were some clutch defensive plays by both teams, and it was a great baseball game. I knew Whiteford would be that [kind of] challenge, and we did enough to win.”
Last season, Tammerine was 10-1 with 114 strikeouts in 62 innings for the Bobcats, who advanced to Michigan's Division 3 state quarterfinals.
“I told Chris before the game that we weren't here for his celebration, we were here to be the spoiler,” Whiteford coach Terry Pant said. “We tried our best. We had some opportunities, but we just didn't string the hits together.
“He's been here along time and done a great job. He's a good coach, and they've got a good team here. They always do.”
Snyder pitched five innings, allowing three hits and a lone run in the top of the fourth inning, when Zayne Emch came home on the back end of a delayed double-steal.
“It means so much because coach Hardman's done so much for me and my playing skills,” Snyder said of scoring the winning run. “It felt really good.
“We had huge confidence going into that [ninth] inning with some of out top hitters coming up. We knew we were going to get the job done.”
Hardman started as Ottawa Hills' interim head coach in 1977, resumed as head coach from 1979-80 and, after three years away, has been the Green Bears' head coach since 1984.
His teams have won or shared 24 Toledo Area Athletic Conferences titles, captured 17 district championships, and reached the state-tournament final four eight times.
Hardman's 1986 team won Ohio's Class A state championship, and his 1992, 1996, and 2001 teams finished as state runners-up.
The Green Bears reached the Division III state semifinals last season before falling to eventual champion Apple Creek Waynedale.
“I just tried to take it one pitch at a time and one batter at a time and one inning at a time,” Hamilton said of his four scoreless innings of one-hit, six-strikeout relief. “We didn't think it was going to go to nine innings, but we battled and made plays. It was a team effort.
“This is the sixth year we've had a Hamilton playing for [Hardman], so it's pretty special. He has had a great impact on my family, and countless other families. He's just a great person, and I'm so glad we were able to get this 700th win for him.”
Don Thorp of Hebron Lakewood, who posted a record of 1,011 wins, 335 losses, and 3 ties between 1973-2021, is Ohio's all-time leader in prep baseball wins.
According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association's baseball records, the state's 700-win club includes three other coaches from the northwest corner of the state.
At No. 2 all-time is Tom Held (Elmwood, Bryan, Defiance), who retired after his highly successful run at Defiance following the 2023 season with a combined 806-182 record.
Rich Arbinger, who was 759-214 at Start from 1976-2009, ranks No. 8, and current Perrysburg coach Dave Hall, who entered 2024 with 713 wins, has since moved up to the No. 11 spot in Ohio history at 718-370 entering the 5-1 Yellow Jackets' scheduled game versus Whitmer on Tuesday.
“I love those guys, but I don't think in terms of that [win totals],” Hardman said of joining Held, Arbinger, and Hall. “I'll give the 700 to the kids, and I'll take the 541 [losses].”
Under Hardman, Ottawa Hills has always played strong Division I and II teams in nonleague play in an effort to prepare his team for tournament play, sacrificing wins to become more battled-tested.
“If you give me credit for anything, it's hanging in for the 541 [losses] and trying to grow our program,” he said. “Winning's easy and losing's hard, but we understand what it does for us.”
Other area baseball coaches ranked among the state's top 20 in victories are Don Kober of St. Francis de Sales (659-251 between 1974-2006) at No. 17, and Greg Wilker of Lake (644-351 between 1985-2021) at No. 20.
First Published April 10, 2024, 1:08 a.m.
