Photo Kim North Indian Creek shortstop Aiden Orr, left, tags second base to force out Harrison Central’s Jace Madzia during Monday’s Buckeye 8 game on the all-turf surface at Mazeroski Field in Cadiz. Madzia eventually hit a game-winning double in the bottom of the ninth as the Huskies rallied for a 6-5 victory in the rain.

CADIZ — Baseball teams have just over one month to squeeze in 27 regular-season games, so days are limited. Monday was exactly why the Harrison Hills School District invested in a multi-million dollar project to overhaul Mazeroski Field and install an all-turf playing surface.

With rain coming down heavier than a mist at times, Harrison Central used the next-man-up and never-say-die attitudes in stunning Indian Creek, 6-5, in a nine-inning Buckeye 8 marathon that took two-and-a-half hours.

Jace Madzia’s double over the left fielder’s head with no outs in the bottom of the ninth scored Treston Nemeth from first base with the winning run as the home dugout exploded in celebration.

“I was just looking to make contact. All I wanted to do was get a single and move Treston up a base or two,” Madzia said of his game-winner.

He did even better than that. Nemeth, the University of Dayton recruit, dropped a leadoff single into right field leading off before Madzia crushed the first pitch he saw from reliever Caleb Bodo to the base of the wall in left. Nemeth never hesitated rounding third as assistant coach A.J. Barsch gave him the windmill sign to keep going.

“Jace is a great story. He didn’t start for us last year but just kept plugging away and got playing time. He ended up being all-Eastern District for us and he came through big for us today,” Harrison Central head coach Mike Valesko said.

The Huskies (7-1) fell behind 4-0 before they even came to bat as the Redskins (2-4) took advantage of some wildness from starter Tre Rex. The southpaw walked four and hit a batter in retiring just one batter as Landon Pownall recorded an RBI with a bases-loaded walk; Jayden Vandeborne was hit with a pitch with the bases full and Sy Howell coaxed a bases-loaded walk.

Enter Trace Rutter who started the game as the Huskies designated hitter. The senior worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam by inducing a fielder’s choice (on which the fourth run scored) and getting a called third strike. Rutter would stay on the hill, eventually earning the win with half-a-dozen strikeouts and three walks in 8.2 innings of relief.

“Tre had a back spasm that we tried to work through but he just couldn’t get loose,” Valesko said of Rex who threw 37 pitches and just over half were strikes (19).

“How about Trace Rutter, though?” Valesko beamed. “That’s a senior bulldog coming in when we needed him. What he did today was unreal, but that’s Trace Rutter. That kid hasn’t missed a practice or a game in four years. He comes every day. I couldn’t be more happy for him.”

Rutter threw 113 pitches of which 72 were strikes. He scattered six hits, but retired 12 batters from the last out of the fifth through the first two batters in the ninth.

Pownall led off the third with a double to deep left-center and Vandeborne followed with an infield single that moved Pownall to third. Howell lifted a sacrifice fly to right to make it 5-0.

It wouldn’t stay that way long as Kaden Jurosko lead off with a single and rounded the bases when Nemeth launched a two-run drive well over the fence in left. Madzia was plunked with a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch by Howell and took third on a groundout to short. The return throw across the diamond skipped past the bag and went down the left field line as Madzia righted himself and sprinted home to make it 5-3.

An unearned run in the fifth cut the margin to 5-4 and Caleb Blawut’s looping single over short plated Nemeth to tie the game with no outs in the seventh. Bodo, however, retired the next three batters to escape further damage and extend the contest.

“We never quit. The guys kept going,” Valesko praised. “We had chances in the fifth and the seventh but couldn’t get the clutch hit, but we finally got them in the ninth.”

Nemeth scored four of the Huskies six runs.

“He’s the best player in the state of Ohio … hands-down,” Valesko said of Nemeth who reached base all five times he stepped to the plate. He had two singles and the aforementioned home run, his fourth of the season. He was also hit twice by pitches.

“I am also happy for the kids around him because he can’t do it by himself,” Valesko added. “This was a great team win.”

Indian Creek head coach Mike Cottis also praised the work of Rutter, but also noted his team’s offensive failures.

“He kept us off-balance and we left a lot of runners on base today … and a lot in scoring position which is even worse,” Cottis said. “We’ve just got to do a batter job widening out (at the plate) and working the middle of the field in those situations.”

Indian Creek stranded a dozen runners on bases, eight in scoring position, and left the bases loaded in the first and fifth.

Pownall had a pair of doubles for Indian Creek.Vandeborne singled twice and Howell plated two runs.

The two teams, weather permitting, are scheduled to play each other today in Mingo Junction.