SHERWOOD — It’s been a surreal experience for Fairview’s baseball team.

The Apaches are having the best season in program history, setting the program record for single-season wins (28) while reaching their first regional final and trip to state in history.

“It’s awesome. That’s all I can really describe it as,” Apaches junior first baseman Drayden Grinnell-Dennis said. “It kind of feels almost surreal, like I’m living a dream that I had.

“It’s just something you only really see in your dreams, and it’s starting to come true.”

Grinnell-Dennis and Fairview (28-3) will be looking to continue that dream on Saturday, when the Apaches, the Region 24 champions, take on Berlin Hiland (29-1), the Region 23 victor, in the program’s first state semifinal in history.

First pitch for the Division VI state semifinal is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton, with the winner taking on the victor of Elmwood (22-8)/Hartville Lake Center Christian (27-4) in the Division VI state final 1 p.m. Sunday at Canal Park in Akron.

“It’s been a great accomplishment for us to make it this far,” Fairview freshman pitcher/third baseman Anthony Singer said. “We’ve put in a lot of work into it, and it’s great to see us succeed like we have been.”

The reason for that success is the depth Fairview boasts.

Fairview is averaging 9.7 runs and 10.7 hits per game while allowing only 2.9 runs and 5.1 hits. The pitching staff also has a 2.00 ERA while the lineup is batting .373 and the defense committing just 1.2 errors per game.

Five players have also thrown double-digit innings, with senior Cole Mack’s 65 1/3 frames leading the way, and 15 players have double-digit plate appearances, including six in triple digits.

It’s provided for a lethal lineup and rotation that only Wayne Trace, Tinora and Defiance have overcame.

“We’re lethal,” said Fairview junior designated hitter Gavin Palladino, who has a .349 batting average with a .520 OBP, 17 RBIs and 17 runs. “We can start off lethal, or we could come back in the fourth and still kill them. It doesn’t matter. We just step up.

“Doesn’t matter who it is. I believe in each and every one of these guys in this room right here.”

That camaraderie is also what’s powered this historic postseason run and eases the minds of everyone.

“It’s a lot less pressure that way,” said Fairview senior outfielder Zane Timbrook, who’s batting .447 with a team-high 12 doubles, 24 runs and 21 RBIs. “I mean, if you are having a bad day, you know that there’s somebody else that is on that night and that they can get the job done when you can’t.”

Timbrook is one of three Apaches who earned Division VI All-Ohio honors by the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association on Monday as well, with Singer also being named an honorable mention and junior shortstop/pitcher Elijah Arend being a first-team selection at shortstop.

Arend has a .458 batting average with 36 RBIs, 36 runs and 11 stolen bases, along with a 2.33 ERA, 7-0 record and 32 strikeouts in 36 innings, while Singer has a 0.71 ERA, 7-1 record and a team-best 48 strikeouts in 29 2/3 frames.

But Hiland has several All-Ohio honorees as well.

The Hawks, led by coach Chris Dages, has five All-Ohio selections, including four first-team picks in seniors Parker Newburn (pitcher), Caden Coblentz (utility) and Colin Coblentz (outfielder) and junior Grady Monigold (first baseman). Senior Daniel Hostetler (catcher) was a second-team pick as well.

Newburn has a 0.64 ERA, 8-0 record and 101 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings, Monigold is batting .390 with 37 RBIs, 24 runs and five homers while Colin Coblentz has a .405 batting average with 26 runs, 21 RBIs and three homers.

Caden Coblentz has a 0.68 ERA, 6-0 record and 58 strikeouts in 41 innings on the bump while batting .397 with 20 runs while Hostetler is posting a .457 batting average with 24 RBIs and 19 runs.

The Hawks also won the South Division in the Inter-Valley Conference with an 11-1 mark, and is making the program’s third consecutive trip to state and eighth overall, including a Division IV state championship in 2023.

Hiland is also scoring 7.5 runs per game, including 9.2 in five postseason games, while allowing 1.4 runs per contest in all 30 of its games and five postseason contests.

The Hawks are also coming off a 10-0 five-inning regional final victory over Chillicothe Southeastern as well.

The Apaches, who have scored 6.8 runs per game in five postseason games while allowing 1.4, are trying to ride the momentum from a come-from-behind 6-4 victory over Cincinnati Country Day in a regional semifinal and a 7-1 regional final win over Fort Recovery, which last year’s Division IV state runner-up.

Both teams also finished within the top five of Division VI in the final OHSBCA poll. Fairview was fourth while Hiland was tabbed No. 1 with only first-place votes.

“Hiland is 29-1, and you can’t win that many ballgames without being exceptional,” said Fairview coach Andy Singer, whose team went 5-2 in the Green Meadows Conference, finishing behind co-GMC champs Tinora and Wayne Trace. “And they are. We had a chance to sit down and watch them and be able to get some information on them. And they’re tough, one through nine.

“But I think that we matchup with that offensively. Their pitchers, they throw hard, but we’ve seen fast, we’ve seen hard from the right and left side this year. And with our schedule, I think that’s one of the things that helps us, is that we’ve played a tough schedule to be able to prepare for this.

“The boys aren’t intimidated by it.”

They’re ready to continue making history.

“I feel like the way we’ve been playing, I don’t think there’s anybody that we don’t think we can beat, especially these guys,” Anthony Singer said. “I think they’re still going to be a good team. It’s obviously a state tournament, so it’s still going to be a good team. But I definitely think they’re a beatable team.

“If we play like we have, I think we’ll be good.”