Canfield High’s baseball season lasted two hours longer then expected, but the Cardinals

Canfield High’s baseball season lasted two hours longer then expected, but the Cardinals couldn’t haven’t been more happy with the outcome.

The Cardinals had to sustain long rain delay before rallying from behind twice to defeat Springfield Kenton Ridge 8-6 and win their first Division II state baseball championship at Cooper Stadium in Columbus.

Canfield, which finished the season 30-3, was making its third trip to the state tournament, but its first appearance in the championship game.

The Cardinals quickly fell behind 2-0 in the first inning, but then the game was delayed for more than two hours as heavy storms hit the Columbus area. When the game resumed, Canfield regained the lead 4-3, but the Cardinals found themselves trailing again 6-5 after four innings.

The Cardinals managed to tie the game up in the fifth and then had to call on sophomore pitcher Jake Kucek, the son of former major league ballplayer Jack Kucek. The sophomore retired all four batters he faced in the fifth and sixth innings, striking out the first three he faced.

Canfield won the game in the sixth inning with some help from the Cougars.

John Pitzulo was hit by a pitch to lead off and was sacrificed to second by Tom Cheslik. John Manzoian then got an infield single with Pitzulo moving to third.

Manzoian then took off for second on a steal attempt and the throw went into centerfield with Pitzulo scoring and Manzoian reaching third. Mark Carrocce then hit a sacrifice fly to left scoring Manzoian.

That was all that Canfield’s ace pitcher Drew Turocy needed and he came on and pitched the seventh for the save. Turocy had pitched Canfield’s semifinal victory over Sandusky Perkins, 4-2.

The Cardinals only had five hits in the game, but had a couple of big ones. Senior Mike Hoelzel had a two-run double in the second to give Canfield its first lead. Turocy came up with a lead-off triple in the sixth that enabled the Cardinals to tie the game at 6-6.