DIVISION II BASEBALL Howland routs Lakeview, 12-2

The Tigers advance to meet top-seeded Canfield in next week's district play.
HOWLAND -- The Howland High baseball team scored runs in five different innings Wednesday in defeating Lakeview 12-2 in a six-inning Division II sectional championship.
The fourth seed in the Struthers district tournament, the Tigers (12-7) will face Metro Athletic Conference champion Canfield in a semifinal next Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at Cene Park in Struthers.
"The last time we played them, it was 4-4 after five innings," Howland coach Tom Eshman said. "And then we had that one bad inning which we seemed to have against better competition which killed us.
"You have to play error free against Canfield," Eshman said. "They are 11-0 [MAC] so they are the team to beat in the area."
Nine-hit attack
Howland used a nine-hit attack and was aided by five errors by the Bulldogs which led to five unearned runs off Lakeview starter Joshua Lawrence (4-2).
Meanwhile, the Tigers got a complete game from Adam Solich (7-1). Solich allowed nine hits and struck out eight while not walking a batter.
"They did help us out a little bit [defensively]," Eshman said. "We had been in a terrible hitting slump but tonight we got some big ones."
Offensively, Jared Bartholomew had a pair of doubles and scored three times while Solich added a single and double. Manoli Pahoulis, Ryan Keller and T.J. Stoian each had a pair of runs batted in.
Leading the Bulldogs
For Lakeview (9-12), Mark Novotny had three singles while Eric Pirtz had a single and a solo home run.
Howland scored an unearned run in the top of the first. With one out, Pozega was safe at first on a throwing error and stole second base.
Bartholomew hit a fly ball into shallow right-center field which fell in for a double with Pozega advancing to third. Pahoulis hit a sacrifice fly to score the first run.
The key point of the game came in the bottom of the first inning. After the leadoff batter was retired, Sean McBride was safe on an error. Novotny and Matthew Pytlik singled to load the bases.
Solich struck out the next two hitters on seven pitches to end the threat.
"Adam is not a big strikeout pitcher, he usually relies on the ground ball," Eshman said. "Strikeouts are always big with runners in scoring position. He pitched another great game for us."
Four-run third inning
After a scoreless second inning, Howland plated four runs in the third inning. A double off the left-field fence by Pozega scored one run, with Pahoulis plating a second with single. Two more unearned runs scored on a two-out error to push the Tiger lead to 5-0.
Howland added two more unearned runs in the fourth without the benefit of a hit as the Bulldogs made three errors in the inning.
Stoian drove home two runs with a two out single in the fifth inning giving the Tigers a 9-0 lead
"It has been our problem all season, giving teams too many extra outs in an inning," Lakeview coach Ben Duncan said. "When you give a good team that many chances, you are not going to win."
Pirtz led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a home run over the right-field fence.
McBride and Novotny singled, and were advanced on a bunt by Daniel Novotny. A wild pitch scored the second Lakeview run.