PREP BASEBALL Reserve pulls out 3-2 win

The Blue Devils beat Lordstown in the final inning of the Div. IV tournament.
By RYAN JONES
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
STRUTHERS -- The wind picked up, the skies clouded above, and the Western Reserve High baseball team took care of business.
The Blue Devils pushed across the game-winning run in the last of the seventh inning to beat Lordstown 3-2 Tuesday in Division IV district semifinal action, literally seconds before a thunderstorm hit Cene Park.
Thursday at 6:45 p.m., Western Reserve will take on the winner of the Columbiana/McDonald game for the district title.
With the score tied at two, Stephen Lenhart led off with a double to left field in the bottom of the seventh. Lenhart advanced to third on a wild pitch during Ryan Pauken's at-bat. Pauken struck out, bringing Brock Christie to the plate.
"I was comfortable with the runner at third and only one out. I felt that we had two strong chances to get the run home," coach Paul Henderson said. "When you're the home team and it's the bottom of the seventh with the game tied, it is impossible to lose."
Winning run
Christie wasted little time in coming up with his second RBI by way of sacrifice, as he took a Kyle Schofer pitch to left field, which allowed Lenhart to tag up and score the winning run.
Henderson explained why he chose to let his catcher swing away, rather than having him attempt to bunt.
"I try to put my guys in a position to be successful, and something that Brock [Christie] does really well is that he lifts the ball to the outfield in sacrifice situations," Henderson said.
Lordstown grabbed the 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Schofer hit an RBI single to right that plated leadoff batter Zack Sutliff, who reached by walking.
Lordstown leads 2-0
The Red Devils extended their lead to 2-0 in the fifth when Max Gibson hit an RBI single to center that allowed Sutliff, who singled and stole second earlier in the frame, to score again.
In the bottom of the fifth, Western Reserve finally got its offense in gear.
Freshmen Brandon Moherman singled to left to start the rally.
Pauken blooped a single to right, enabling Moherman to advance to third. Christie hit a sacrifice bunt toward the pitcher's mound that allowed Moherman to score.
Adam Myers followed with an RBI single to left center, which pushed Pauken home to tie the game at two.
Henderson made a wise pitching change to start the sixth when he elected to bring in his No. 1 starter, Jake Zatchok.
"We were not hitting the ball very well, and we could not afford to allow another Lordstown run at that point. It really was an easy decision to make," Henderson said.
Zatchok pitched two scoreless innings of relief, striking out four Red Devils to earn the win.