TOURNAMENT BASEBALL Chaney defeats Liberty, earns game against Niles

By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
STRUTHERS -- The Chaney High baseball team is right back where it was at this time last year.
The Cowboys unleashed a 16-hit attack to defeat Liberty 14-3 for a Division II sectional championship Thursday at Cene Park.
Chaney will face Niles, which beat Lakeview 4-1, next Thursday in a district semifinal at Cene Park.
"We were 21-6 last year and lost to Poland in the district semifinals," said Tom Otto, Chaney's first-year coach. "We had a little mix-up this season and lost a player because of disciplinary reasons. So our guys did some soul searching the last couple of days, got together and came out and hit the ball well."
Junior Tom Enyeart (5-1) of the Cowboys (15-8) had a two-hitter going through four innings.
The Leopards (4-11-1) scored three runs on four hits in the bottom of the fifth inning to avert a shutout.
"Liberty began catching on a little bit and just started hitting me," Enyeart said.
Every player in the Chaney starting lineup had at least one hit.
"We can put up scores as long as we get good performances from Enyeart and catch the ball," Otto said. "Then we feel good about it."
Otto said that Enyeart came into the game with a 1.81 ERA and that he had pitched a no-hitter against Campbell earlier in the season.
The Cowboys built a 3-0 lead heading into the fourth inning, when they pulled away with a seven-run surge before adding four more in the top of the fifth.
A triple by Dave Baco, a double by Adam Boris and singles by Aaron Boris, Ron Palowitz, Bryan Kopachy, Rick Hlinka and Enyeart helped to produce the seven runs.
Aaron Boris and Kopachy each had three hits for the Cowboys. Palowitz also hit a triple and Hlinka had two singles.
Randy Burgett doubled twice for the Leopards.