Northeast Ohio Baseball Playoff District Previews: Division I

Barberton District

Favorites #1 Brunswick, #2 Highland, #3 North Royalton

Contenders #4 Hoban, #5 Firestone, #6 Brecksville-Broadview Heights

Sleepers #7 Medina, #8 Wadsworth, #9 Copley

This district is wide open 1-through-9.

Even the teams in the 7-9 range have a good chance of making a deep run, but the road to do so will be tougher.

#1 Brunswick (11-8) put together an impressive season, staying near the top of the Greater Cleveland Conference, but splitting two games with #7 Medina gives you an idea of what the gap is between 1 and 7 in this district.

Highland, North Royalton, Brecksville, Wadsworth and Copley are all familiar with one another and any time those teams meet each other, those games could be considered toss ups.

One of the more interesting matches of the entire tournament features #4 Hoban and #5 Firestone. The Akron rivalry game should be a close one and Firestone has a chance to show they’re legit outside of the Akron City Series.

This Firestone team has been playing solid ball all season and aside from one blowout loss to Ellet, it’s been a great 2017 campaign altogether. They bounced back from that loss to answer with a blowout win over Ellet of their own, and with this district as evenly matched as it is, Firestone has a chance to make some noise in this tournament.

Hoban (10-10) had a bit of an up-and-down year, but at their best, they picked up big wins over Strongsville, St. Edward (twice), Canton Central Catholic, Padua and St. Vincent-St. Mary.

Hoban’s tough schedule should help their chances in this tournament, but that first game with Firestone could go either way and whichever team wins is likely to give Brunswick a good fight.

This district is lining up for quite a few potential rivalry games. Some possible matches include:

Wadsworth-Copley

Hoban-Firestone

Medina-Highland

North Royalton-Brecksville

North Royalton-Highland

Brunswick-Highland

When it comes to playoff baseball, anything is possible, but add that rivalry factor into the mix and it could make for an even more interesting district tournament.

Expect quite a few close games in the Barberton District.

Players to Watch

Jake Williams Brunswick

Billy Keller Highland

David Steward North Royalton

Grant Kersh Hoban

Dustin James Firestone

Carter Schwertle Brecksville

Chris Fryer Medina

Luke Clinton Wadsworth

Tyler Hays Copley

**We’ll be posting our playoff predictions tonight, surveying five panelists for their district, regional, and state championship picks for all four divisions involving Northeast Ohio schools.**

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