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St. Clairsville Captures District Crown, Will Face Indian Creek In Regional Semis

By NICK HENTHORN 5 min read

WHEELING - The ride isn't stopping for the St. Clairsville Red Devils, who claimed the Ohio Division II East 1 District championship on Wednesday with a 5-1 victory over the New Philadelphia Quakers.

"We're very excited, obviously," St. Clairsville head coach Tom Sliva said. "Our seniors are very deserving, our whole group is very deserving, they've worked extremely hard. That's a very good baseball team who've ended our season a couple times. We thought that maybe this was our turn. I can't say enough about the job Hunter Hoffman did on the mound, we had some key hits, we did some nice things defensively and we did some nice things at the plate."

Hoffman pitched the full seven innings Wednesday on Mazeroski Field in Cadiz, the same neutral site where St. Clairsville played their district semifinal game on Monday.

The senior struck out six, allowing only one run on six hits and a walk.

"Best game he's pitched all year," Sliva said. "He was outstanding- he did what a senior does. He threw quality pitches all year, and credit to him, he did an outstanding job."

New Philadelphia got off to a 1-0 lead after the top of the first, but St. Clairsville plated two in the bottom of the inning to seize a 2-1 advantage.

The Red Devils tacked on three more in the sixth to get a bit of breathing room, but as the top of the seventh rolled around, St. C. had to once again hold their breath.

The Quakers' Gaven Blake started the inning with a base hit, and was followed by Keaton Fausel and Carson Long each cracking hits as well, loading the bases with nobody out.

Hoffman worked a strikeout to get one-third of the way to a win, inducing the punchout looking on a full count.

Mac Steele followed up with a fly ball deep into the outfield. The runner from third got to the plate, and the throw in held up the runner on second from advancing to third.

It looked as if St. Clairsville would need one more out, still leading 5-2 with two on- but the umpires ruled that the runner from third had left early. He was tagged out near home plate, and the Red Devils were on their way to regionals.

It was an anticlimactic ending to an inning that had started off on a tense note for St. Clairsville.

"I can count on one hand the number of times we've gotten that first out," Sliva said. "It's tough, but what's good is we gathered ourselves, talked to him on the mound, talked about the situation and they understood what we needed to do and they buckled down and did it."

In the first inning, the Quakers struck first, Braylon McBride hitting a double, and Owen Coutrney trading places with him to give New Philadelphia a 1-0 lead.

St. Clairsville struck back with the bat of Caleb Kennan, who shot a bouncing ground ball right in the sweet spot between the first and second baseman, scoring two with a bases-loaded, two-out base knock.

St. C. shortstop Braylen Blomquist saw to it that New Philadelphia left two stranded in the second inning, turning an unassisted 6-3 double play to end the inning and keep the score standing at 2-1- where it'd stay until the sixth inning.

Mickey Balgo got the Red Devil an insurance run with an RBI base hit to center, Rowan Mellott ahead of him at second base.

The pair of Mellott and Balgo each advanced one base on a wild pitch that got under the catcher and to the backstop. Another pitch to the backstop scored Mellott and put Balgo on third. A third straight pitch by the catcher and to the backstop scored Balgo and just like that, two more runs were on the board for St. C.

The Red Devils advance to the Region 7 semifinals, one of the final 16 teams vying for a state championship. They will have a familiar foe to face.

St. C. will play fellow OVAC member Indian Creek on May 30 in the regional semis after facing them three times in the regular season. The Red Devils have beaten them each time they've met thus far.

"There's good and bad to that," Sliva said of the matchup. "Kids are excited, we have to get back to practice tomorrow and get ready to play. We sure as heck know how quality they are, that's why they are where they're at. It's going to be a heck of a baseball game and we've got to make sure we come ready."

Should the Red Devils make it to the regional finals, it'd be the first regional appearance for St. Clairsville in four years- when this year's senior class of Keenan, Blomquist, Hoffman, Marcus Bush and Mason Myers were freshmen.

"Four of them are four-year starters, Keenan's a two-year starter. All five of them are exceptional, four of them have been doing it since they were freshmen. They made a regional game their freshman year. This was their goal, they were shooting for this year after year. They're very excited, and like any seniors on any group, they don't want it to end."

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