Wednesday, May 21, 2008
By Paul Trgovac
The Irish ousted East Palestine, 4-1.
STRUTHERS — The Ursuline High baseball team did what a championship team needed to do as they scored four unearned runs Tuesday in defeating East Palestine 4-1, for the Division III District title at Cene Park.
Ursuline (20-5) will play Canton Central Catholic on May 29 at 5 p.m. in Massillon. East Palestine ends at 17-7.
The Irish managed just six hits, but took advantage of the same number of errors by the Bulldogs.
Two errors in the top of the first helped to set up the first two runs for the Irish which were driven in on a Dan Baco single with two outs.
Two more East Palestine errors in the fourth led to the final two Irish runs. The first run scored on a sacrifice fly by Ross Revella and the final on a single by Joe Wielbruda who also added a double.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were unable to take advantage of having the leadoff man in four of the first five innings reach base on a walk.
Only in the fifth did East Palestine manage to take advantage of the leadoff walk as a two out single by Pat Buckley drove home the only run of the contest for East Palestine.
“I think it [the two-out hits] was the big difference in the game,” Ursuline coach Sean Durkin said. “We played solid defensively, and they kicked it around some, and when they did we were able to take advantage of it.”
Shawn Roman went the first five innings for the victory, his third in as many decisions on the year. He had six strikeouts and walked five and allowed just three hits.
Mark Lapikas came on in relief and struck out the side in the sixth, and recorded three more strikeouts in the seventh for the save.
“This was the first time Shawn has gone over three innings for us all year,” Durkin said. “He had some arm problems last summer and we have been careful with him. A lot of his troubles were just rustiness, but he showed what he is made of and stuck with it.
“Lapikas then came in and did what he is capable of. Our pitching has been great all tournament.”
Ursuline pitchers allowed just one run in the two games in the District.
Nick Baiamonte (7-2) went the first five innings plus for the Bulldogs. He allowed no earned runs, and walked and struck out three each,while adding a single, and a double and also was hit by a pitch on offense.
“I can’t say enough about Baiamonte. He kept us off balance at the plate all night long,” Durkin said. “Sometimes you have to win games like this, and maybe in the long haul it may be good to have been in a game that tested us.”