By SETH STASKEY

For The Intelligencer

CAMBRIDGE — St. Clairsville came into Monday’s Division II Eastern District semifinal against Meadowbrook playing some of its best baseball of the spring.

The Red Devils, after a 5-5 start, had reeled off victories in 12 of their last 13.

Quite simply, the Colts weren’t fazed.

Meadowbrook received quality pitching from southpaw Hayden Loy, sterling defense and timely offense en route to blanking St. Clairsville, 5-0, in front of a large crowd at Don Coss Field inside Cambridge City Park.

“We just struggled to get anything going and they were able to take advantage of some (breaks) that went their way,” St. Clairsville head coach Tom Sliva said. “We had a hard time getting the momentum into our dugout. Our kids never quit and we did a good job in a lot of aspects.”

Unfortunately, the Devils’ offense wasn’t at its best against Loy. He wasn’t overpowering, which is evident by the fact that he only struck out one hitter. However, he made clutch pitches when he had to as he scattered three singles, walked one and plunked a batter.

He was also the beneficiary of error-free defense behind him and the Colts smoothly turned three double plays and they cut down a Red Devil runner trying to steal.

“We struggled to get things to happen, in our favor, that could have put a little pressure on them,” Sliva said. “To their credit, they made the plays. We put the ball in play, obviously, but they made plays and especially made the plays they needed to at the times they needed them.”

With Loy and the defense doing their thing, the offense didn’t need to do much.

Meadowbrook was able to surge to a 2-0 lead in the third when it took advantage of a throwing error in the infield that directly led to a run and allowed the inning to extend and the Colts added another run.

In the fifth, the Colts extended their advantage and chased St. C. sophomore ace Hunter Hoffman. Hoffman, who has been brilliant most of the season, recorded the first out with ease, but then the floodgates opened.

The Colts strung together four consecutive hits, including a RBI double by Austin Fox. Damon Launder followed with a base knock to drive in Aidan Reis, who had singled earlier in the frame.

That led Sliva to the bullpen. He called upon sophomore Mason Myers, who was greeted with a RBI single by Josh Hupp through a drawn-in infield that capped the scoring.

The Red Devils only true threat came in the fourth when Myers drew a two-out walk and moved all the way around to third on a single by senior Joey Balgo.

However, Loy promptly induced an innocent groundout to first to thwart the rally.

The Devils had a runner in both the fifth and sixth, but Loy received a pitcher’s best friend by the name of a 4-6-3 twin killing.

“We had a couple of chances to answer, but just couldn’t string anything together,” Sliva said. “We knew they were a quality club. In a big game with good pitchers, the first little bit of momentum is big. They got it and we could never take it away from them.”

St. Clairsville’s other two hits came off the bats of seniors Logan Shields and Austin Porter.

The Red Devils finish the season with a solid 17-7 mark. Though a solid core returns, the Devils will bid farewell to eight seniors.

“It was a good year, overall,” Sliva said; “There are a lot of teams that would like to have 17 wins and be playing in the district in front of a nice crowd. I give our kids credit because we were 5-5 at one point and didn’t know who we were, how good we were or what we’d be able to do. The kids kept plugging away, so in that aspect I consider it a good season.”

The win sends the Colts to Division II District title game, at Harrison Central, to take on Steubenville, which took out top-seeded Indian Valley.