photo by: Andrew Grimm

Indian Creek’s Dom DeGruttola throws to first to get Steubenville’s Royal Mayo out during their game on Thursday.

MINGO JUNCTION – Baseball comes down to timely hitting.

In Thursday’s matchup of neighboring schools between Indian Creek and Steubenville, the Redskins were the team that got the timely hits.

Creek scored two runs each in the third and fifth innings, while Sal Barcalow hurled a strong game on the mound to hold Big Red at bay for a 4-1 victory at Muth Field.

“We ran the bases well and got timely hitting,” Indian Creek head coach Mike Cottis said. “That’s a good formula for success. It’s a rivalry game, we were up for it, they were up for it, and it was a good ball game.

“Playing good teams is what makes us better. Playing a cross-town rival, it feels good to win this one any time we can.”

Creek, now 13-2 on the season, got on the board first with Hunter Rusnak’s RBI single in the bottom of the third, then he scored for a 2-0 lead on Barcalow’s RBI groundout.

Two innings later, Ty Householder led off with a triple and Rusnak made it a two RBI day, sending an RBI double to the fence in left. Sylus Hyde plated him two batters later with a sac fly.

With Barcalow dealing on the mound, finishing with eight strikeouts and two walks, it proved to be more than enough offense.

“Sal threw great today and we played good defense behind him,” Cottis said.

Big Red did get on the board in the sixth as AJ Borsch led off with a double and scored on Kail Simmons’ RBI groundout, but Steubenville (7-10) left seven men stranded, including leaving the bases loaded in the fourth.

Landon Crosier also had a double for Big Red, while Borsch struck out six and walked one in going the distance on the mound.

“It was a good game, we played well,” Big Red head coach Fred Heatherington said. “We’re not there yet, we’ve got to keep working. We faced a good team and a good pitcher and we were in the game, that’s all we can ask.

“They’re a good team, they’ve got almost everyone back (from the state tournament team last year), and they’ve got good pitching. But, we put the ball in play and got some hits. We’ve just got to keep battling.”

UP NEXT

Big Red: Travels to East Liverpool on Monday.

Indian Creek: Takes on St. Clairsville in the Buckeye 8 Conference championship game today at Mazeroski Park in Cadiz.