METRO ATHLETIC CONFERENCE Leonard's pitching tames Poland, 9-2

Josh Dripps and Nick Guerrieri powered Canfield with back-to-back homers.
By JOHN BUTERA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
POLAND -- A strong performance from starting pitcher Dan Leonard and back-to-back home runs from Josh Dripps and Nick Guerrieri Thursday powered the Canfield High baseball team to a 9-2 victory over Poland.
Leonard (2-1) yielded just one hit, a single, and struck out five in five innings.
He threw 88 pitches, which was enough for Canfield Coach Tony Ross.
"His pitch count was getting high," Ross said, "and he is too valuable for us to extend him this early in the season."
Leonard said, "I was happy with that amount of pitches this early in the season. I just tried to throw strikes and get some groundball outs."
Leading 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning, Dripps fouled a pitch to deep right field before jumping on a fastball and crushing it over the left-field fence for his first home run of the season.
"I was looking for a fastball because he [Poland pitcher John Hay] threw me the curve the pitch before," Dripps said. "That was probably one of the best hits I have ever had and it was even more meaningful since it came against Poland."
Guerrieri, swinging on the first pitch, hit his home run in almost the same spot as Dripps.
"I was looking for that pitch," Guerrieri said. "When you bat down in the order, you see a lot of fastballs."
The next three Canfield batters reached base on errors and before the inning was over, the Cardinals had scored three more runs for a 9-0 lead.
Poland scored in the sixth when Anthony Fuller doubled home Shane Davis and Sean Clayton. Davis singled twice and reached base on a walk.
Canfield (6-2, 2-0 Metro Athletic Conference) wasted little time in taking the lead. Frank Turocy singled home two teammates to highlight a three-run first inning.
"We know we can hit the ball," Ross said, "and it's not just one kid, it's one through nine.
"Both of the homers were from seniors who sat back on the fastball and both of those kids can do the kinds of things that you need to win with."
Canfield catcher Dave Miller walked and stole a base in the first inning, singled in the third, had a groundout RBI in the fourth and walked in the sixth.
"The better team definitely won today," Poland coach Steve Rohan said. "They approached it the right way and we didn't and that's my fault. I'm fully responsible."