Baseball: Barnesville Brings Home District Title
OLD WASHINGTON — The Barnesville Shamrocks are the 2026 (OHSAA) Division III Eastern District Championship, their second title in three seasons.
Barnesville (21-7 overall) defeated the Martins Ferry Purple Riders (15-9 overall) at neutral site Buckeye Trail High School baseball field Thursday evening.
Head Coach D.J. Butler understood the challenge going into the game but had full confidence for his players against a hungry Purple Rider squad.
“We’ve worked really hard on our mental toughness,” Butler said. “We’ve played in a lot of close games this year, and I think all of those things have been paying off for us here.”
For Barnesville to advance, it needed to have production from its upperclassmen. Thankfully for Butler and Rox fans, they didn’t disappoint.
Starting on the mound for the Shamrocks was junior right-hander Blake Burkhart. He had a productive evening pitching a near full-game, striking out three batters and walking one.
For Martins Ferry, right-handed Ford Hughes took the mound and, like Burkhart, almost pitched for the entire contest. He recorded three strikeouts and walked two Shamrocks.
The Purple Riders were the first team to get on the board in the top of the second inning. An RBI single from Ferry’s Mike Goff allowed Silas Simpson on third base to score. With the bases loaded, Burkhart and his teammates didn’t allow any more runs.
In the bottom of the third, Barnesville finally got on the scoreboard. Junior Brayden Watters made that possible with a sacrifice fly ball that paved the way for senior outfielder Jack Anderson, tying the game 1-1.
The next inning saw the Rox take a 2-1 lead after an error by the Riders’ catcher attempt to get Burkhart out at second provided enough time for Burkhart to get home to put his team on top.
Burkhart performed well on both sides in a game with such large stakes at hand.
“Blake was tremendous,” Butler said. “I knew we were getting back to the lineup, and we were seeing him for the fourth time. It was good to see him not succumb to the pressure.”
In the bottom of the sixth, two more runs were tallied in favor of Barnesville. After a triple by senior Dylan Blon, an RBI single by sophomore Jaxten Swallie allowed Blon to score.
A sacrifice bunt by senior first baseman Keegan Martin allowed sophomore shortstop Gunner Dudzik to go home, making it 4-1.
With just a half inning away from a win, the Shamrocks allowed the Riders to score three runs—one of which was unearned. Junior right-handed pitcher Parker Sobutka was able to prevent Martins Ferry from taking the lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Burkhart delivered for his teammates and coaches with a walk-off RBI single that allowed senior Max Miller to score which secured the 5-4 win.
As a result, the #1 seed Rox’s journey into the 2026 OHSAA Baseball State Championships continues next Tuesday, June 2 when they will face the #2 Harrison Central Huskies at Mazeroski Field in Cadiz for the regional semifinal game.
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