Borsch belted a two-run, go-ahead home run with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to push Steubenville into the OVAC 5A championship game after a 4-2 victory over the Monarchs.

“AJ’s been coming up clutch,” Steubenville head coach Justin Banks said after the win. “You know, he’s been trying not to do too much, and that has really helped him. He’s just doing what he can. He’s putting solid contact on the ball, and the balls are flying for him. And today, he flew one at the right time.”

Steubenville only had three hits on the game, though they drew five walks and benefited from two John Marshall errors.

The Monarchs managed five hits themselves as both starting pitchers put together strong performances Monday. Matthew Fabro pitched a complete game for Steubenville, striking out five– including punching out the final batter of the game. He did not issue a single walk. John Marshall’s Hayden Hughes pitched 6.2 innings, tagged for two runs– one earned– and striking out seven.

“Matthew was on today,” Banks said. “He had three pitches going today. He was all around the zone. He was pitching to contact, and he was getting ahead of guys. He didn’t get behind in too many counts, which was for him, so he could throw some waste pitches. He just battled the whole game and got after batters.”

“Both pitchers threw great,” John Marshall’s Mark Cisar said. “I mean, Fabbro threw great for them. Hughes threw great for us. That’s the difference between West Virginia and Ohio. I mean, the pitch count’s 125 [in Ohio], 110 [in West Virginia]. Hughes’ got to come out right at 110. I mean, he stays in there to face another batter, who knows, but he reached his pitch limit. So he’s got to come out. And it happens. We had a couple of big walks pitching-wise that put us in a little bit of a jam. But, they only had three hits. We only had five.”

Steubenville took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, Rocco Nocera doubling to right-center and driving in Borsch. John Marshall struck for two runs in the bottom half of the inning, Jacob Cisar getting the Monarchs on the board with an RBI double to center field, and Kayden Knapp giving his team the lead with a base hit.

Big Red tied the game in the top of the fifth after Jagger Rawson hit a sacrifice fly. There was only one more hit between both teams from there-on until Borsch’s go-ahead homer.

“I was really pleased with how we did offensively with two outs to score some runs,” Cisar said. “But, not enough offense– again, a very good pitcher we’re facing. Good defense on both sides by them and by us today. I thought both teams played well. To be honest, it was just a good high school baseball game. They had the big hit when it counted, and that’s baseball.

“But, we’re pleased with our guys, pleased with the effort. We’ll get right back at the grind tomorrow, and that’s what’s nice about baseball, and that’s what’s nice about the conference championship; it’s in the middle of the season, so it’s not like the season’s over for us. We got to get right back on the grind and start going at it again.”

Mason Markonich had two hits for John Marshall, the lone multi-hit performance for either team.

John Marshall faces Wheeling Park in a regular season game Tuesday.

Steubenville, the No. 3 seed in OVAC 5A, advances to play No. 1 Morgantown on Friday. The Mohigans defeated No. 4 Wheeling Park on Monday.

“We said all we needed was a chip and a chair, like poker,” Banks said. “You know, they battled the whole game. I think we only had three hits, and I mean, and they were three big hits. So they battled all game. John Marshall’s pitcher Hughes did a hell of a job. You know, he had us off-balance. Tip my cap to him because he threw very well today.”