Early deficit too much for W.B.

By Tom Williams

The Warriors rallied from an 10-run deficit but ultimately fell to ND-CL, 15-9.

HUDSON — Two outs away from being victims of the 10-run mercy rule, the West Branch High baseball team’s bats roared to life.

Trailing Notre Dame Cathedral Latin 11-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Alex French doubled and scored on Bo Beegle’s triple. RBI singles by Steve McNeely and Shawn Linder helped the Warriors cut the gap to six runs.

But that was as close as West Branch came in Friday’s Division II regional tournament game as each team scored four runs in the last two innings.

The Lions (22-5), the team that forfeited last year’s regional title game to Canfield after they were caught using a player not on the official roster, won 15-9 to earn a state semifinal trip.

Not bad for a team that lost a district game to Chagrin Falls last week but was awarded the victory when it was discovered that a Chagrin Falls pitcher had surpassed his weekly innings limit.

In jumping out to a 10-run lead, the Lions recorded eight of their 10 hits and took advantage of four of the Warriors’ seven errors.

“They hit everything we threw, that’s the bottom line,” West Branch coach Lynn Grove said. “As much as I tried to keep it low-key, we were way too tight and it showed. We did some bonehead things that we don’t normally do.

“Then it got to a point where we relaxed and played West Branch baseball,” said Grove of the final three at-bats. “Give credit to the kids — they didn’t quit. The game was over, but they weren’t going to let it be over.”

The Warriors, who defeated Poland 6-3 in Thursday’s semifinal, were in trouble from the beginning when Linder in center field was assessed a three-base error on Nick Cappello’s deep hit.

Rob Searles was awarded first after the ball struck his extended right foot.

Grove said the home plate umpire told him that Searles “didn’t kick it. They all agreed.”

After Warriors starter Kolin Stanley struck out Alex Toth, Drew Elko hit the ball sharply to third baseman Steve McNeely, His throw to catcher Jarrod Harris was in time to tag out Cappello.

But a hit-batsman and walk gave the Lions their first run. They added three runs in the second inning, with Toth driving in two with a two-out double.

“Against good teams, [pitchers] have to hit spots,” Grove said. “We had trouble hitting spots today. We walked too many people early in the game and Notre Dame is probably the best-hitting team we’ve seen.

“They are real patient at the plate,” Grove said. “They look for their pitch and when they find it, they drive it hard. We were running a long way to get to [fly] balls.”

The Lions added two runs in the third and five in the fifth to seize control.

Linder’s solo homer in the third inning broke up Lions starter Bill Turosky’s no-hitter. He also hit a RBI double in the sixth inning.

In that same frame, Matt Tafe doubled and scored.

“They have nothing to be ashamed of,” Lions coach Jim Clark. “They came back and hit the ball. Most teams would have folded.”

Grove said it was an unusual day.

“Everything just seemed to not go our way today, and that’s the game of baseball,” Grove said. “If you play it long enough, you’ll see everything happen. Some rare things happened out there today.”

williams@vindy.com