St. C. Doubles Up Harrison In Class 4A Semifinal, 4-2
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Ohio Valley baseball fans couldn't have asked for more Monday afternoon inside Memorial Park.
A nip-and-tuck game in which the Red Devils led, 4-2, in the top of the seventh with two outs.
They had their ace -- junior Hunter Hoffman -- on the mound. Harrison Central, meanwhile, countered with the leading run at the plate in the form of multiple-time All-Ohioan Treston Nemeth.
The cliche that good pitching shuts down good hitting proved true once again. Hoffman, who got ahead in the count, got Nemeth, who had singled twice and drove a ball to the fence in the notch in left center in the first, out in front of an offering and he grounded weakly to second where Brody Saunders fielded it and threw on to Mickey Balgo at first, sending the Red Devils to another OVAC title game by the 4-2 score.
"Hunter really bulled his neck and made a great pitch to get (Nemeth) out front a little bit and we were able to hang on," St. C. head coach Tom Sliva said. "I can't say enough about what Hunter did because he was up in pitch count, but he didn't want to come out and wasn't coming out. We made plays defensively and we got some key hits."
While the Red Devils are making plans to play Indian Creek, which knocked off defending conference champion Cambridge in the other semifinal, Harrison Central and head coach Mike Valesko are left to wonder what might have been.
"It was best on best and that's what you want in these situations," Valesko said. "It was a big moment and those usually work out in our favor, but it didn't this time around. This one is going to sting for a little bit, but credit to St. Clairsville."
Harrison Central had other scoring chances, including the sixth when Nemeth and Tucker Snyder produced back-to-back singles to start the frame. Hoffman, however, was unfazed. He proceeded to get the next three Huskies in order to escape the jam.
That followed up the Red Devils' biggest offensive uprising of the game when they had the heart of the order up against Harrison Central's Kaden Jurosko, who pitched well in defeat.
Braylen Blomquist led off the inning with a hustling double into no man's land in shallow left center. Junior Mason Myers followed by coming up just a foot or so shy of hitting a two-run home run to right. The speedster settled for a triple after the ball hit off the fence.
He then scored when junior Marcus Bush, who was brilliant once again defensively at third including turning a double play, singled into center. The ball was mishandled in the outfield and Bush alertly scampered to second.
"Those guys really came through (in the fifth)," Sliva said. "When you string hits together, it usually leads to runs. We were fortunate."
That extra 90 feet proved to be important. Bush got to third on a fly out to center. It looked like the Huskies had escaped the inning without further damage, but the throw to first after a ground ball was air mailed up the hillside behind first base for the game's lone unearned run.
As it turned out, that add-on run changed the entire Huskies' offensive approach in the seventh.
"We have to make a play with two outs and worst-case scenario it's 3-2 and then we had two guys on and with our style of play, we probably bunt and then squeeze again," Valesko said. "Those kinds of plays happen though. That's high school baseball and it (stinks) sometimes."
The Huskies led, 2-1, for a bulk of the game. They scored a single run in both the second and third after St. C. struck for one in the first.
Jurosko sliced a triple down the right-field line and Kaden Dunkle dropped down a beautiful bunt to perfectly execute a squeeze play to put Harrison on top. Anthony Pelegreen scored the first run of the game for the Huskies when he raced home on a wild pitch.
St. Clairsville, which got all five of its hits from the second through fifth spots in its order, got on the board first when Hoffman helped his own cause with a RBI single to score Myers, who had drawn a two-out walk.
Jurosko fanned seven, but he did issue six walks.
The Huskies' ace -- senior Tre Rex -- wasn't available to pitch because "he's hurt," according to Valesko.
St. Clairsville, which takes on OVAC 5A finalist Wheeling Park for the second time on the turf in Ohio County today, will be seeking its 13th OVAC baseball title.
"It's exciting for the kids to have the chance to play for an OVAC title," Sliva said. "We were able to (win it) a couple of years ago, but came up short last year, so it's nice to be back. We're really excited."