W. Reserve turns back McDonald

By PAUL TRGOVAC
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
STRUTHERS -- It took four days longer than originally scheduled, but the Western Reserve High baseball team won its second Division IV district championship in the last three seasons with a 9-4 win over Inter-County League rival McDonald Sunday at Cene Park.
Western Reserve (14-11) will play Ashland Mapleton (15-4) in the regional tournament Friday at George Day Field in Elyria at 5 p.m.
Was slated Wednesday
The district title game was to be played last Wednesday and then Thursday, but the weather pushed the start back to Friday afternoon. Western Reserve led 3-2 when storms halted play in the third inning.
Action resumed Sunday with Western Reserve batting, a runner on second and no outs. McDonald changed to Mike Van Dyke on the mound in place of starter Corey Vukovic. Adam Myers sacrificed the runner to third base and Luke Srock singled to give Western Reserve a 4-2 lead.
McDonald got a run back in its half of the inning, but the first of two key base running mistakes ended the rally. Van Dyke hit a two-out, run-scoring single but was thrown out at first when he rounded the bag too far.
"That got us off to a slow start and switched the momentum back around," said McDonald coach Dan Williams.
Western Reserve then scored an unearned run in the fourth inning as a single off the bat of Ryan Punken scored Jake Zatchok.
Key defensive play
McDonald had a chance for a rally in the bottom of the fourth. Vukovic opened the inning with a single, then after a strikeout, Ken McKay lined a single down the left field line. Western Reserve left fielder Josh Yeany threw out Vukovic at third for the second out. After a walk to Paul Logar, Zatchok recorded his second strikeout of the inning to end the threat.
"The throw from left field was huge by Josh," said Western Reserve coach Paul Henderson. "They were getting into a position to score but it took them out of a potential big inning."
A three-run fifth inning put the game away for Western Reserve. Nick Sanders had a single to score one run, and Zatchok hit a two-run single to cap the uprising.
Each team scored a run in the seventh inning.
Leading the way
Nick Sanders, Stephen Lenhart, Zatchok, and Srock had two hits each in the 11-hit Western Reserve attack. Srock had the only extra base hit in the game, a double.
McDonald's (11-10) Vukovic suffered the loss to fall to 4-4 on the year. Only two of the four runs he allowed were earned. Van Dyke went five innings, allowing four earned runs with four strikeouts.
Zatchok (6-2) pitched the entire game for Western Reserve. He allowed just two earned runs and had 11 strikeouts while walking three.
"We had some good workouts all week even with all the rain," said Henderson. "Two years ago we won a district when a lot of these players were sophomores. That experience helped us today.
"Zatchock is our ace," he added. "Whenever we need it he steps up."