PREP BASEBALL TOURNAMENT Fitch eliminates Howland in Div. I play

Brian Sterling pitched a four-hitter to lead the Falcons.
By ROBERT J. FUSCO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Brian Sterling was just that Thursday -- sterling.
The Austintown Fitch High senior fired a four-hitter, leading the Falcons to a 6-2 victory over Howland in a Division I sectional championship.
"I was on today," said Sterling (6-2), who walked three and struck out seven. "I was able to pick up where I left off [in a win] against Boardman last week."
The win sent the Falcons (14-9) into a district semifinal game against Garfield Heights next week at Cene Park.
"He's been our horse all season and we're riding him right now," Fitch coach Wally Ford said. "He's had only one bad outing all year [against Warren Harding] and he's been really strong since we returned from our Myrtle Beach trip."
Falcons score early
Fitch scored six unearned runs off Howland starter Vasili Pahoulis in the first three innings.
"We haven't been a strong-hitting team all season," said Sterling. "We find a way to get on base and make [our opponents] make the plays."
Fitch scored all of its runs with the help of four Howland (14-9) errors and three walks.
"Our defense has been our Achilles' heel all season," said Howland coach Tom Eschman. "You can't give a team four and five outs in an inning and expect to advance."
Pahoulis (4-2) pitched well, allowing only four hits and three walks, and striking out four.
Fitch took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Mickey Howley's RBI single that scored Elliott Endsley, then the wheels fell off for Howland in the third.
Dom Modarelli reached on the first of three Tiger errors to start the inning and later scored when Howland third baseman Sam Mann couldn't field Mike Eliseo's grounder with the bases loaded.
Then, with two outs, Howley hit Pahoulis' first pitch down the right-field line for a two-run single and Bob Melnek followed with a bloop, two-run single to left, making it 6-0.
Howley finished with two hits and three RBIs.
"Mickey's hit was big," Ford said. "It looked like [Howland] was going to get out of the inning down 2-0, but that's the way we've played all season. We've gotten a lot of clutch hits."
Mann homers for Howland
Sterling allowed infield singles to Jared Bartholomew in the third inning and Craig Dubos in the fifth, and Mann's solo home run in the sixth.
"I wasn't really worried," said Sterling after yielding his first home run of the season. "We knew they had an explosive offense, so I was just trying to keep runners off base."
Howland's other hit was a two-out single by Nick Pompeo. Adam Solich's groundout in the fifth drove in the Tigers' other run.
"We knew coming in they had some dangerous hitters," Ford said. "Two times, [Howland catcher Justin] Byler came up with no one on and we were able to go after him a little more. We kept their big hitters from coming up in crucial situations with runners on base."
Jeff Kotel had the lone extra-base hit for Fitch, a double in the fifth.