BARNESVILLE — Chris Leasure isn’t living in the past. He’s all about the present.

The former Monroe Central product watched his alma mater collect a dozen hits and receive good pitching in a 7-6 repeat victory over Barnesville Wednesday at sunny, but chilly, Memorial Park in western Belmont County.

Leasure was quick and to the point when asked if he knew the last time Monroe Central had swept the Shamrocks. “I’m not sure. In 2022, I guess. That’s all that matters to me,” he said as his team celebrated around him.

With every starter collecting at least one hit, the Seminoles (10-8) put together a 4-run third inning to take a 4-3 lead, and then added three more in the fifth for a 7-3 lead at that point. The Shamrocks (9-5) tallied once in the bottom of the fifth and twice in the sixth, but couldn’t get any closer as they had a runner thrown out stealing second to end the sixth and then doubled a runner off of second to end the game.

“Barnesville is a good team that is very well coached. They have a good group of seniors and they put a good product out, basically, every year,” Leasure added. “We beat them once last year and kind of gave the second game away. It feels great to beat them.”

Leasure, a former Bethany College standout and OVBL veteran, said this win will do a lot for his program.

“Winning this game and being able to sweep them will go a long way for us as far as (sectional tournament) seeding goes because they are one of the top dogs around.”

Barnesville, which advanced to the Division III state semifinals last spring, took a 3-0 advantage after two innings. Kyvan Johnson doubled home C.J. Hannahs in the first for a 1-0 reading and an error and a Colton Hines run-scoring groundout made it 3-0.

Monroe Central bunched five hits with two Shamrock errors in scoring four times in the third with two outs. Winland singled in the first two and, two batters later, Kade Demchak roped a single to left-center that plated two more.

Carter Knowlton’s drive found the gap in left-center and rolled and rolled as he strolled into third with a triple. However, when the relay thrown was mishandled, he sprinted home to make it 5-3. That ended the day for Jaxon Wiley on the hill as Spencer Bliss came on in relief.

Bliss walked the first batter he faced before getting two outs. With the bases loaded, Logan Demchak duplicated his brother’s fete two innings earlier when he stroked a two-run single, upping the margin to 7-3.

“Our hitting was something we struggled with early in the season and with me being a hitting-oriented coach, it was kind of difficult, but we stayed in the groove,” Leasure added. “It’s not about how you start, but how you finish. We’re getting hot at the right time and, hopefully, we can finish the season off on a good note going into the tournament.”

Barnesville drew to within 7-4 in the fifth when Hannahs raced home after a strikeout in which the ball was dropped and thrown to first for an out.

Marshall Meade was hit with a Winland pitch to start the sixth, prompting Leasure to bring Collin Kroll on in relief. Jeremy Hunkler singled to right as pinch runner Reese Stephens went to third. Hunkler alertly took second on the errant throw from the outfield. With one out, Hines bounced to third as Stephen sprinted home for a 7-5 reading. Hannahs then dropped a single into center field that brought in Hunkler, making it 6-5.

However, Hannahs was thrown out trying to steal second on a laser by catcher Landon Lydick to end the inning. The Shamrocks had a runner on second with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but a line drive to center was gloved and thrown to second to double up the runner and end the contest.

“Jake threw very well for us tonight. He’s been struggling a little lately with high pitch counts early. It looked like he was headed for another one of those tonight, but he had back-to-back 8-pitch innings there that helped,” Leasure noted. “I told him before the game that I wanted to get two trips through their lineup from him. He gave me that plus six batters. I’ll never complain about that.

“Collin came in and closed it. Everyone on the team wants to win, but nobody wants to win more than he does. He wants to win badly, so we had the right guy on the mound at the right time.”

Winland struck out six, walked three and hit a batter in his 80-pitch (51 strikes) outing. Kroll had one K. They teamed on a seven-hitter.

Wiley didn’t fan a batter and issued one free pass. Bliss had one and one.

“This is the worst coaching job I’ve ever done in my 15 years here, by far. We’ve got talent but I’m not getting it out of them for some reason,” Barnesville head coach D.J. Butler explained. “It’s on me. We have the talent to win and I’m not getting it out of them.”

Barnesville was missing senior Gavin Carpenter who was attending practice for Saturday’s Ohio North-South football game in Massillon.

“Gavin deserves to be in that North-South Game. He had a fantastic football season. You can’t begrudge him for being there,” Butler said of his ace pitcher and big bat in the middle of the lineup. “I’m glad he went.”

When asked how he would get his squad ready after the tough loss, Butler said, “I’ve got to figure out a way to get them going. We go to Hiland tomorrow (today) and the plan was to see some good pitching and get ready for, most likely (Colby) Shriver on Saturday against Martins Ferry in the OVAC (3A) championship game. I’ve got three days to get them going again.”