Harding snaps jinx against Boardman

By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- With his team down 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh in Wednesday's Division I sectional opener, Warren Harding's Tyson Rowland stood three outs away from his first loss of the season and 90 feet from home plate.
Fortunately for the Raiders, they had no outs, the bases were loaded and their cleanup hitter, Pat Elias, was at the plate.
Not a bad place to be.
"I was still a little nervous," Rowland, a senior pitcher, said. "But it's a lot better than having two outs."
Elias hit a chopper to short, which was fielded by Boardman's Dan Ford. Ford flipped to second for the force, but the relay throw sailed over the head of first baseman Kevin Sikora.
Game over.
The streak
"Since I came here three years ago, we've never beaten them," said Harding coach Joe Smarrella, who was 0-8 against Boardman. "We've had kids who've competed, but it seems like we were always on the short end of the stick. But we got a break at the end of the game today."
Rowland, who went 3-for-3, scored the game-tying run and watched as Joey Spain trotted home for the game-winner.
"I was just enjoying it," Rowland said. "I'm happy we finally beat them. There's not much else to say."
The Raiders (16-8), who advanced to play at Ashtabula Lakeside next Wednesday, took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a three-run homer by catcher Justin Byler.
Boardman answered with three runs in the top of the third on a two-run homer by Ford and an RBI single by Matt Madrid. Ford, who just missed hitting a homer in the fourth on a deep fly to center that was caught at the wall, finished with two hits and scored twice.
"We had scoring opportunities in the beginning of the game, but we didn't put them away," said Boardman coach Scott Knox. "When you let teams hang around, that's what happens."
Boardman (10-11) stranded 11 runners -- six of them at second or third base -- and committed two costly errors in the bottom of the seventh.
"It just comes down to who makes the mistakes," Knox said. "That's what we wanted to avoid, but that's what happened."
Rowland is 8-0
Rowland (8-0) struck out six, walked two and hit three batters, but made enough big pitches to get the win.
"He's been our go-to guy all year," said Smarrella. "Obviously, he's our No. 1 pitcher, but we've got contributions from everyone. It's not just him. This team has battled all year.
"Boardman has a great coach and a great team and anytime you can beat them, it says a lot about your program."
But the Raiders aren't done yet. Rowland enjoyed Wednesday's win, but he's got bigger goals in sight.
"Going into the season, our goal was to get to regionals," he said. "If we play well and play good defense, we can do it."
scalzo@vindy.com