Breaking News
Top Sports

Indian Creek Advances Past Red Devils

Back-And-Forth Battle Sends Creek To Regional Finals

By NICK HENTHORN 6 min read

CADIZ - It was a classic game of punch-counterpunch Thursday evening at Mazeroski Field for the OHSAA DII Regional Semifinals meeting between Indian Creek and St. Clairsville. While the Red Devils had Creek on the ropes late, Sylus Hyde delivered the knockout blow at the plate and on the mound, Indian Creek battling to a 10-8 triumph to advance to the Regional Finals as one of eight remaining teams vying for the DII state title.

"Just very resilient, these boys," Indian Creek head coach Mike Cottis said. "They never doubt themselves, they come out everyday expecting to win."

Creek jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first inning, but watched as St. Clairsville scored multiple runs in the third and fifth innings to come within three, 8-5, heading into the sixth.

Sylus Hyde relieved Creek starter Sal Barcalow in the sixth inning, and with two outs and two on, Hunter Hoffman belted a ball far beyond the right field wall as the Red Devil dugout exploded for the game-tying, three-run shot.

Hyde was responsible for the damage, but his recovery quickly made up for it.

The sophomore found himself at the plate after two singles and an error loaded the bases with Landon Pownall, Barcalow and Hunter Rusnak. Hyde had a game-changing swing of his own in store, shooting a base hit to right field which scored Pownall and Barcalow and thrust Creek ahead 10-8.

"I have no words. That was something," Hyde said.

There was still the matter of putting away the Red Devils in the top of the seventh. St. Clairsville's Brody Saunders started the inning with a high fly ball which went to the wall, though left fielder Ian Starkey nearly made a remarkable over-the-shoulder catch at top speed. Saunders stood at second with nobody out, and Hyde had work to do.

Two straight strikeouts, one working back from a 3-0 count, got Creek two-thirds of the way there. An error on a ground ball prolonged the inning and kept the Indian Creek crowd watching with clenched teeth.

Hyde struck out the next batter to end the game.

"I know I gave up that home run in the sixth inning but I just put it behind me," Hyde said. "It's the past, I couldn't do anything about it. We focus on the future and what's ahead of us. From there on, did everything right."

"He could've tucked his tail after he gave up the home run but he didn't," Cottis said. "He still battled on the mound, gets the big hit, redeems himself and then shuts them down in the seventh. Great effort by him."

Indian Creek will next face the Waverly Tigers on Friday in the regional finals, that game to be played at Bob Wren Stadium on the campus of Ohio University in Athens.

St. Clairsville bows out of the postseason with a final record of 26-4, and a district championship.

The Red Devils had played Creek three times previously this season, winning each of them. For Creek, the fourth time was the charm.

"It's a battle every time we play these guys," Cottis said. "There's been years where we were down and they were up, and we still had battles, and vice versa. Coach [Tom] Sliva's a good friend and he does such a good job with this program. All those seniors, they're great, great players and I'm glad they're graduating because they're so good and they have been for so long."

St. Clairsville graduates a five-man senior class of Braylen Blomquist, Hunter Hoffman, Marcus Bush, Mason Myers and Caleb Keenan.

Red Devils head coach Tom Sliva spoke highly of his senior group.

"You don't have enough tape or paper to get all I could say about the senior class," Sliva said. "Those five guys accomplished more than any group of five guys have in a long time. Those guys are exceptional. Great players, great leaders, they got every bucket, every bat, every ball. First ones there, last ones to leave. I told the underclassmen today that they got to see five guys do it exactly the way it should be done, so if you want to learn how to do it, just take notes from what these guys did all year."

Hyde picked up the win on the mound while Hunter Hoffman took the loss. Brody Saunders and Sal Barcalow started on the mound for St. Clairsville and Indian Creek, respectively.

As far as the action on the field, St. C. did well to come back and tie the game after an impressive first inning by Indian Creek.

Creek quickly loaded the bases, Ty Householder being hit by the first pitch of the game, Nick Maurer reaching on an error- and being injured in the process, Tre Feist-Winland replaced him in the lineup the remainder of the game- and Pownall drawing a walk. Barcalow drew a bases-loaded walk to open up the scoring. Gavin Pownall cranked a double through the right-center gap to score two. Barcalow came in to score from third on a wild pitch, Hyde lofted a sacrifice fly for another run to come across, and before the Red Devils could blink, they were down 5-0 heading into the second inning.

Householder scored another run in the second on a base hit by Barcalow to give his team a 6-0 lead.

"We started off too slow, giving up a five-spot, giving up six right away, that's hard to overcome," Sliva said. "To the credit of the seniors and the whole group, we were able to knot it up at eight. It says a lot about what kind of players they are and what senior leadership we have."

The Red Devils started their march back into the game in the third, Hoffman plating two runs on a single up the middle to make it 6-2.

Cale Bodo and Householder each chalked up RBI in the bottom half of the inning to push the lead back out to six runs.

Brody Saunders scored on a fielder's choice in the fourth, Braylen Blomquist scored on a ground out in the fifth, while Marcus Bush scored on an error in the infield in the fifth to make it 8-5.

From there, the drama only increased with St. Clairsville tying the game and Indian Creek taking the lead back once and for all.

This was the first time Indian Creek had ever made it to the regional semifinals, and now they are making yet more history with their first-ever regional finals Friday.

"To get to this point, it's been just a bunch of hard work," Hyde said. "We've been working towards this since probably the beginning of August. The workouts we do in the morning, all the long days, it's helped us get to this point."

"I'm just so happy for these guys," Cottis said. "They put so much time in, they worked so hard in the offseason, and everything is just coming together right now. We're playing really good baseball."

Starting at /week.