St. Edward holds off Fitch in Div. I

By Joe Scalzo

The Eagles avenged last year’s loss to the Falcons in the district final with a 3-2 victory.

STRUTHERS — He was the hero of last year’s game and he had already played a big part in this one, so when Fitch junior Jason Bagoly strolled to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning of Wednesday’s Division I district semifinal at Cene Park, you couldn’t help but think back to his two-run walk-off homer last season that helped the Falcons upset Lakewood St. Edward for a district title.

This time, Fitch trailed 3-2. One out. One on.

Bagoly, who had already homered in the first inning, stepped in against a sophomore reliever named Stetson Allie, who had thrown nothing but fastballs against the last four hitters and didn’t seem inclined to change his strategy.

Later, when Eagles manager Danny Allie was asked whether he considered walking Bagoly, he shook his head.

“I didn’t want to put the tying run at second base, period,” he said.

Bagoly, a Division I prospect who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 230 pounds, isn’t a typical high school hitter. But Allie isn’t a typical high school pitcher, either. He’s a possible first-round draft pick who hit 94 miles per hour on the radar gun Wednesday afternoon.

“I felt like, you know he’d [Bagoly] already hit a fastball out of the park, but he didn’t hit a 92 to 94 mile per hour fastball,” said the elder Allie. “We felt like maybe we could overpower him a little bit.

“If it didn’t work, if he hit the ball out of the park, you know what? That’s the way it goes. We were gonna challenge him.”

Four pitches later, Bagoly walked back to the dugout shaking his head. Cleanup hitter Mike Olenych then gave it a battle, fouling off some tough pitches, but he too struck out, ending the game.

“He was bringing it, that’s for sure,” said Fitch coach Wally Ford of Allie. “That was a heckuva high school baseball game. They just scored one more run than us.”

Like he did last year when he shut out the Eagles over five innings, Fitch senior Jim Kinnick pitched a gem. The YSU recruit tossed a four-hitter with 13 strikeouts and three walks, using a tremendous curveball to overcome some control issues with his fastball.

St. Edward’s winning run came in the top of the seventh when Kinnick plunked leadoff hitter John Hubach, who moved to third on a balk and a stolen base. Alex Lavisky followed with a grounder to short to score Hubach.

“Jimmy, he’s tough, he’s a fighter,” said Ford. “He made a couple mistakes there, but he pitched a whale of a game. I couldn’t ask for anything more of him.”

Fitch (14-9) had a chance to pull ahead in the bottom of the sixth when Kinnick singled to right to start the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice by J.D. Kubacki and advanced to third on a strikeout by Andrew Warren, who reached on a wild pitch. But that’s when Allie entered the game for starter Kevin Lesjak, overpowering Anthony Savko and Tony Koch on 10 pitches. Allie finished with five strikeouts in six batters, his lone blemish coming via a leadoff walk to Nick Wiery in the seventh.

“We know what we need to do with our pitching,” said the elder Allie. “Thank God for those guys.”

When asked whether revenge served as a motivator Wednesday, Danny Allie said no.

“Not really,” he said. “That’s last year. I know it was said in the dugout, but me personally, no. I try to keep my head in the game and try to execute the plan.

“That’s [Fitch] a good team, you know.”

St. Edward (20-6) advanced to play Euclid in today’s district final in the second game on Cene 1.

scalzo@vindy.com