Finally! Poland snaps skid against rivals

By Joe Scalzo

Ross Lopez had three hits and John Price pitched well in relief for the Bulldogs.

NILES — Seconds after Wednesday’s final out — a tricky liner to center field snagged by senior Trent Vallinger — the Poland High baseball team poured onto Eastwood Field’s infield and celebrated like a team that had just unloaded years of frustration.

In the middle of it was senior catcher Ross Lopez, who had one of the best games of his career in one of the biggest games of his career, helping the Bulldogs to a 10-6 victory over archrival Canfield in an All-American Conference Red Tier game.

“For seniors, we haven’t beat Canfield since we were in Little League,” said Lopez. “It’s been a long time and it feels great.”

Lopez, the No. 6 hitter, went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple and three RBIs for Poland (13-6, 4-1), which scored five runs in the fourth inning to take control.

Poland finished with 13 hits in handing Canfield just its second loss.

“We have a good hitting team and when we come focused, we hit really well,” said Poland coach Rich Murray. “Trent Vallinger is starting to get hot now and Lopez had some big hits for us.”

Junior reliever John Price pitched extremely well, tossing three scoreless innings and giving up just two hits over that span.

His only blemish came in the fourth when he threw a wild pitch that allowed Canfield to score its last run. (Price entered the game with runners on first and second.)

Price ran into some trouble in the sixth when Canfield got runners on second and third with two outs.

But Price snared Tom Cheslik’s one-hopper back to the mound and sprinted halfway to first before flipping the ball to infielder Dru Petro for the final out. He got high-fives and chest bumps on his way back to the dugout.

“I can’t say enough about the way [starter Dom] DeFelice and Price pitched,” said Murray.

The Poland-Canfield rivalry doesn’t need much extra oomph, but the Bulldogs got some last week when Cardinal senior Jared Turocy hit a game-winning homer in the bottom of the seventh in the first game of this year’s series.

“That was heartbreaking,” said Murray. “But it wasn’t really extra motivation. This was more about the seniors getting to beat them for the first time.

“[Matt] Pitzulo and Vallinger have started since they were freshmen and they’ve never beaten them.”

Added Lopez, “It [the homer] was a little more motivation, but every time you play Canfield, you’re a little more motivated. We were really pumped to beat them. Especially the seniors, since this is the last time we were playing them.”

Vallinger had two hits and scored three times, Pitzulo had two hits and two RBIs, Sean Gabriel scored three runs and Ryan Rovnak had two hits for Poland, which can grab a share of the league crown with three more wins.

Canfield (18-2-2, 7-1) has already clinched a share of the crown and can win it outright with another Poland loss.

Turocy had two hits and scored a run but the Cardinals couldn’t muster much offensively after a four-run second inning. They also played some sloppy defense — particularly in the crucial fourth inning — which proved critical.

“You can’t give the other team runs,” said assistant coach Al Thorne, who was filling in for manager Matt Koenig. “[Starter Joe] Hoelzel pitched a great game.

“We just couldn’t get any outs for him.”