By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Senior Joe Sharish was Southeast’s starting pitcher in the Pirates’ 2-1 win April 18 at Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC) rival Newton Falls. The senior went 5.2 innings and was dazzling, giving up just one run in the bottom of the third inning.

“Joe pitched extremely well. He was outstanding,” said head coach Matthew Dillon, whose team is now 8-1 overall and 6-0 and tied for first place with LaBrae in the MVAC.

As well as Sharish pitched, it was Cohen Richardson, who relieved Sharish in the top of the sixth inning, who was about as clutch as a pitcher can get. The junior entered the game with the bases loaded, but was able to get out of the jam unscathed. Once again, in the last of the seventh, the Tigers loaded the bases with one out.

The next better hit a comebacker to Richardson, who threw to sophomore catcher Bradley Dillon for one out. Dillon then threw the ball to first baseman Daniel Clint for a double play to end the game.

“It was a good pitching duel,” said coach Dillon. “A couple plays in the field made the difference.”

Southeast’s four hits — all singles — were provided by Sharish, junior center fielder Braedyn Walden, sophomore second baseman Caden Dillon (Bradley’s cousin) and senior right fielder Maverick Wood, who bunted to get on base.

AURORA

A first-inning error April 20 at Suburban League American Conference rival Copley put Aurora behind the eight-ball.

The Greenmen fought back, though, by forging ahead in the top of the third inning and never looked back. A five-run seventh inning put the game on ice in a 10-3 win.

Aurora is now 8-5 overall and 4-3 in the conference.

“We started slow. I thought we were flat early,” head coach Glenn Galang said. “The resiliency of the kids … I kind of lit a fire under them, and they started battling and kept battling and finished the game off.

“Being a first-year coach at Aurora, the first thing I wanted to convey to the boys was building a good culture and playing the best teams in Northeast Ohio, the D-Is and D-IIs, and I think we’ve done that. I believe that will definitely help us in the postseason. I’m extremely proud of these guys.”

Pacing Aurora at the plate were junior first baseman Drew Scott and his classmate, designated hitter Jackson Brooker.

Scott had two doubles, and RBI and a run, while Brooker ripped a double and single, drove in two runs and scored once.

Catcher Braeden Wamser and left fielder Ryan Ziegler, two more juniors, both singled twice, knocked in two runs and scored once.

“Braeden had a couple good, timely hits for us,” said Galang. “He’d been struggling quite a bit, but it look like he’s starting to come out of it.”

Pitching-wise, junior Johnny Slisz started and went four innings, yielding three runs and four hits while striking out three and walking four.

“Johnny tends to want to overpower hitters, but he worked on his off-speed pitches,” the coach said. “He pitched well. He’s coming along.”

Sophomore Noah Bolbach went the rest of way, allowing two hits and striking out two.

STREETSBORO

It was a close game until Streetsboro hung up a six-spot on visiting Metro Athletic Conference rival Springfield in the bottom of the sixth inning to increase its 5-3 lead to 11-3 April 20 en route to an 11-4 victory over the Spartans.

The Rockets, who are 6-5 overall and 4-2 in the conference, committed four errors, most of which contributed to Springfield’s only lead of the game, 3-1. The home team tied the score in the fourth and tallied two run in the fifth for a two-run lead.

Pacing the home team’s dozen-hit attack were senior Scott Wilson, junior Brady Long and senior Jayden Coffie.

Wilson doubled, singled twice and scored two runs in setting the school record with 87 career hits, breaking Ricky DeLambo’s mark. He is batting .484. Long, who is hitting a team- leading .545, rapped three singles, knocked in a run and scored three times and Coffie had two doubles, three RBIs and a run.

“Scotty is one of those kids who lives in the gym and puts in the extra time,” head coach Chris Scisciani said. “All that effort, getting the swings in, getting into the weightroom and just doing everything he does … I mean, he has a hitting cage in his garage. I’m super proud of him.

“Brady has been coming along. It’s been a little bit of a slow start for Brady, but he’s been coming along and getting more consistent.

“Jayden had some really clutch at-bats against Springfield. He got the first big hit to get our first run in. One of his doubles scored two runs to give us the momentum to get that big sixth inning.”

Junior Jake Szczecinski added two singles, drove in a run and scored once.

On the mound, freshman Graham Jonas started and went 5 2/3 innings, yielding three runs (only one earned) and four hits while fanning seven and walking three. Szczecinski went the rest of the way.

“Graham pitched great for us,” said Scisciani.

CRESTWOOD

Crestwood has not exactly been the poster child for comeback wins this season. The Red Devils simply lack the offensive firepower. They have lost four games by six or more runs.

It looked to be the same story – another decided defeat – April 18 when they trailed 4-0 at Manchester heading into the top of the seventh inning.

This time, though, head coach Chris Stanley’s squad refused to die and wound up winning 6-4 in 12 innings.

Crestwood now has a record of 4-6.

“We just kept telling the kids, ‘You’ve got to compete every pitch and you never know what happens,” Stanley said. “You never throw up the white flag. If you’re going to get beat, get beat with your best. You have to go down fighting.’ Four-nothing in the seventh is pretty daunting. We were just trying to coach them up as best we could and keep their mindset in the proper place and get their head space right.”

Junior designated hitter Kael Reiber singled to get the ball rolling in the seventh.

Sprinkled in between some timely walks, freshman pinch hitter Mason Grifa tied the score with a two-run single.

“It’s all about having the right mindset. Mason did a hell of a job with that hit,” said Stanley. “We’d get guys on base for most of the game, but we just couldn’t stack our hits.”

Crestwood batters survived striking out 14 times.

“Manchester’s pitching coach was telling their pitchers, ‘Just throw the ball away and low because they’re just trying to kill the ball, not hit it where it’s pitched,’ ” said Stanley. “And our guys unfortunately were doing that. Our assistant coach said to the kids, ‘Hey man, they’re just telling their guys to put the ball there, and you guys are not attacking and not doing what you’re supposed to do.’ Then the next frame, our guys are just hitting the ball and having competitive at-bats, putting the ball in play where it’s pitched and not trying to overswing or do too much.”

Senior shortstop Kyle Shelhamer singled twice and scored once.

On the mound, freshman Tyler Lovejoy started and went three innings, yielding four runs and four hits while striking out one.

“Tyler has pretty good stuff,” said the coach, “but he didn’t have great command.”

Four relievers were almost perfect in the remaining nine innings — Shelhamer, senior Wyatt Januska (four strikeouts), junior Dakota Powers and freshman Michael McCulloch.

“One hit and one walk combined,” Stanley said. “I couldn’t be proud of those guys.”

FIELD

Not only was Field’s matchup at Metro Athletic Conference rival Norton on April 20 crucial to the Metro Athletic Conference standings, but it was also a battle of Division IV state-ranked teams.

The Falcons came in ranked sixth and the Panthers second in the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association poll.

The home team prevailed 4-1.

“Norton is ranked second for a reason,” head coach Joe Peterson said, whose team is now 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the MAC. “They have four really quality arms, and we saw two of them.”

Field took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Norton responded with three in the bottom of the frame and added one more run in the fifth for good measure.

Sophomore James Roberts started and went five innings. He was relieved by senior Joey Conroy, who pitched the final inning.

“James pitched really well. He competed his tail off,” said Peterson. “They had five hits off of him, and two of them we felt were fly balls that should’ve been caught and are usually caught. So we feel like we left two outs out there, and they were both in the third inning when they scored three runs.”

Senior center fielder Caden Kolesar had two hits and an RBI. His classmate, first baseman Joey Dilworth, doubled and scored the Falcons’ only run.

GARFIELD

Offensive fireworks were shooting off all over the place in Garfield’s 11-8 triumph April 20 at Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference foe Newton Falls.

The G-Men totaled 10 hits. The Tigers pounded out 15 hits.

“We started off pretty well,” head coach Mike Paes said. “We were pretty aggressive on the basepaths.”

Garfield is now 4-6 overall and 2-4 in the MVAC.

The score was tied 4-4 after two innings, but the visitors scored three runs in the top of the third inning and four more in the fourth to pretty much put the game out of reach. The home team, however, responded with three in the last of the fourth to pull within four runs before tallying one simply for aesthetics in the seventh.

Leading the way at the plate were senior catcher Brock Pesicek (home run, double, RBI), senior shortstop Brandyn Bogucki (two singles, RBI, run), sophomore third baseman Jared

Cardina (double, single, three RBIs) and Lukas Workman (double, three RBIs).

“They all came up big,” said Paes.

On the mound, junior Nate Baczkowski started and pitched 3 1/3 innings, yielding seven runs (only three earned) while walking one. Relieving him was senior Jack Neikirk, who went the rest of the way, giving up an unearned run, four hits and a walk.

“We had some errors behind Nate. He pitched well. He hit his spots and got guys to pop out and ground out, and that’s what you ask for,” said the coach. “Jack got out of a couple jams and pitched pretty well.”

ROOTSTOWN

With host Rootstown tied 2-2 with Garfield April 17 and two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the seventh inning, senior right fielder Alex Ely singled. With Ely running on the first pitch to the next batter, senior second baseman George Luli, the latter drove the ball into the left-center field gap.

Ely rounded second base and was arriving at third when the outfield throw came in just behind second base.

It was decision time for head coach Keith Waesch

“I just thought at that point in time that, based on the fact we’d been struggling at the plate,” Waesch said, “our best chance to win the game, at least at that point, was to wave Alex around third base.”

The relay throw was a little bit up the third-base line, and Ely slid in safely for a 3-2 walk-off win. The Rovers are now 3-6 on the season.

Luli wound up with two singles and two RBIs. Junior Anthony Pratt tripled, drove in a run and scored once.

MOGADORE

A huge top of the fourth inning April 20 for Warren John F. Kennedy Catholic turned a 3-0 deficit for host Mogadore into a 15-zip mountain to climb en route to a 15-2 Wildcats loss. The game was called after five innings due to the 10-run rule.

Mogadore is now 1-4 on the season.

“We stayed competitive through three innings,” head coach Chris Williams said. “But that fourth inning … they hit a lot of good balls. They have great hitters.”

With two singles apiece were senior catcher Tyler Pendergast and sophomore first baseman Landen Williams. Pendergast also had an RBI.

Pitching-wise, junior Maddox Smith started and went three innings, giving up eight runs and eight hits while striking out seven and walking four. Noah Hopkins, his classmate, pitched the last two innings, yielding seven runs and eight hits while fanning four and walking two.

“Maddox struggled a little bit with command in the first two innings. He got high in the pitch counts,” said Williams. “Noah was throwing strikes, but JFK was just hitting the ball where we weren’t at that point.”

RAVENNA

Liam Summers didn’t pitch a bad game April 20 in Ravenna’s 8-0 loss to Metro Athletic Conference (MAC) rival Woodridge in a game played at John Carroll University in University Heights because of field issues at Woodridge due to inclement weather.

The Ravens freshman went four innings, giving up six runs (only three earned) and seven hits while striking out one and walking three.

“We made it tough for Liam on the defensive side of the ball with four errors,” head coach Lee Lovejoy said of his squad that is 1-11 overall and 0-4 in the MAC.

Junior Tyler Nichols pitched the final two innings.

With one hit apiece were Nichols, who finished the game at second base, senior center fielder Connor Welling and sophomore left fielder Carter Mitchell.

“Woodridge’s pitcher, a lefthander, is definitely one of the better guys in the conference. He mixes it up well,” said Lovejoy. “We didn’t have much contact, and the hits we got weren’t together. If we clean it up defensively and have some timely hitting, we might give ourselves a better chance.”