By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Garfield senior pitcher Aidan Hill started the G-Men’s 15-0 rout April 19 at Struthers that improved their record to 8-2. He did something rarely seen at any level of baseball.

Hill not only threw a perfect three innings, he struck out all nine batters he faced.

“Aidan was really on it, throwing as hard as we’ve seen this year. He can throw close to 90 miles per hour,” head coach Mike Paes said of his ace, who threw 47 pitches, 31 of which were strikes.

Junior shortstop Brandyn Bogucki pitched the last two innings, giving up zero hits while striking out two and walking one in the combined no-hit game that was shortened to five innings due to the 10-run rule.

Freshman third baseman Jared Cardinal doubled, singled twice and had four RBI and three runs.

Two days earlier, on April 17, junior pitcher Garet Warnick started and went the distance in leading Garfield to an 8-1 win at home over McDonald. He struck out four and walked four.

“Garet is very efficient,” said Paes. “He wasn’t striking out a ton of hitters, but he was getting a ton of ground balls. And we were fielding great behind him.”

Bogucki singled twice and had two RBI and two stolen bases, while Cardinal singled three times, knocked in three runs and scored once.

“Brandyn is always efficient,” said the coach. “He put the ball the other way, pulled it, was just hitting the ball all over the field. When he gets on base, it’s like an automatic stolen base. He gets to second base all the time. The last couple games, Jared has been doing great. He’s been hitting as well as anyone we have on the team this last week. He’s also started to not just pull the ball but take it the opposite way. He’s learning how to be a complete hitter. I’m proud of him. As a freshman, to be able to do what he’s done is awesome for us.”

Junior left fielder Carson Norton had three singles and two runs, while catcher Brock Pesicek, his classmate, singled twice and scored twice.

RAVENNA

After getting shut out seven times this season already, Ravenna’s offense finally came to life April 17 in a 9-2 home win over Bedford and April 18 in a 13-1 rout at Niles McKinley in a game shortened to six innings due to the 10-run rule.

Junior Jeriah Miller started and went the distance against the Bearcats, yielding only two hits with eight strikeouts and five walks.

“Jeriah had a couple innings where he struggled. The walk number is higher than what we’d like to have, but he just kept at it,” head coach Lee Lovejoy said. “He wanted the complete game and asked for the ball in the seventh inning. He just kind of bulldogged his way through it. That’s who he is.”

Offensively, junior designated hitter Connor Welling had a double, a triple, two RBI and two runs. Freshman third baseman Landyn Godley singled twice, knocked in a run and scored once.

“Both Connor and Landyn have kind of gotten it going for us as of late,” said Lovejoy. “Connor has been our top-of-the-order guy for the last two-and-a-half years. He provides good speed at the top of the lineup. He had a good day at the plate. Landyn stepped in nice for us. He

wasn’t starting at the beginning of the year but has earned his spot by just having good at bats.”

In the win over the Red Dragons that upped the Ravens’ record to 3-8, the visitors blew open a close game by scoring six runs in the fifth inning and five more in the sixth.

“When that fifth inning came around, we finally started to get McKinley’s pitcher to work a little bit more,” the coach said. “Our guys were just really staying on the baseball and had a better approach those two innings.”

At the plate junior first baseman Logan Hysell had two doubles, an RBI and a run, while right fielder Rylan Eldredge, his classmate, singled twice and had an RBI and two runs.

“Logan and Rylan were kind of the sparkplugs there in the fifth and sixth innings that got us going,” said the coach. “Rylan had two great at-bats in those last two innings.”

On the mound senior James Evans started and went five innings, giving up five hits while fanning six. Junior Peter Jennings pitched the last inning and struck out two.

“The first inning, James actually gave up three hits but then settled in the rest of the way,” Lovejoy said. “He was well in command. He had zero walks. He just did his job and really worked ahead.”

Ravenna began the week with a 10-0 defeat April 16 at Woodridge in a game shortened to five innings due to the 10-run rule. The Ravens were no-hit by Bulldogs pitching.

“We had a rough day at the plate for sure,” Lovejoy said. “Woodridge’s pitching did a ngood job of keeping us off balance and just throwing strikes.”

Pitching-wise, Hysell started for the visitors and was relieved by freshman Carter Mitchell, who finished the game.

STREETSBORO

Streetsboro sandwiched a 5-2 victory April 17 at Kent Roosevelt between losses April 16 at Cloverleaf by a 2-1 score and April 18 at Lake Center Christian by an 8-3 tally as those two defeats were the Rockets’ first of the season. They slipped to 6-2.

In the win over the Rough Riders, junior pitcher Scott Wilson started and went the ndistance in striking out 10 and walking two.

“Scott had a really good day. He did an amazing job,” head coach Chris Scisciani said. “He threw a few more pitches than what we would’ve liked – 118 but 76 of them were strikes.

He was very efficient. His slider was amazing. He did a really good job of mixing things up. Our coaches did a really good job of calling pitches from our scouting reports, and Scott just executed the plan.”

The visitors produced some key hits as well. Sophomore shortstop Brady Long had a double, two singles, two RBI and two runs, senior Jack Batten had a double and two singles, and sophomore second baseman Colton Cox singled twice.

Against the Colts, all of the runs were scored in the first inning. Wilson, playing center field, singled twice and scored his team’s only run.

“Cloverleaf did a good job of keeping us off balance at the plate,” Scisciani said, “and they made a couple really good plays where we had guys in scoring position with two outs. We had some situations where we could’ve tied it up or even taken the lead, but we just weren’t able to.”

On the mound, Batten started and pitched five innings while fanning nine.

“Jack pitched great,” said the coach. “He battled, did great, did everything he could possibly do.”

In the loss to the Tigers, the home team scored in every inning but one, justifying their No. 2 state ranking in Division VI.

“They’re a really good team,” Scisciani said. “They have a really good junior pitcher who is going to Ohio State. He throws 93-94 miles per hour. We faced him, and he pitched really well, but we ended up scoring three runs off of him in the sixth inning to cut it to 6-3.”

Cox started on the mound and yielded six hits in three innings. Junior Frank Mudery pitched the next two innings, and freshman Jadyn Dufala went the rest of the way.

Scisciani is thrilled that his players are working hard.

“We’re just trying to go day by day, get better each day and do the little things right,” he said. “Hopefully we can just compete every day and try to win one game at a time. That’s all we’re trying to do.”