Double-digit eruption sparks Fitch past Cards

By Ryan Jones

CANFIELD — Fitch High baseball coach Wally Ford said it’s been some time since he’s watched one of his teams plate 10 runs in an inning.

In the fourth inning of Friday’s Division I sectional final, the Falcons scored 10 runs — all unearned — courtesy of five Canfield errors en route to an 11-7 triumph.

“We were just hoping to get back in the game,” said Ford, whose team trailed 3-0 going into the fourth frame. “We’ve had some big innings this year, but nothing like this one.

“They [Canfield] made some errors and we made them pay for every mistake,” Ford said. “That’s what you have to do in that situation.”

Fitch (14-8) catcher Jason Bagoly reached on an error and scored one batter later when Rick Segesto lined a double to right-center field. Chris Miller and Jordan Endsley both reached on errors and Segesto scored on the second of those miscues to cut the lead to 3-2.

Ford said as the inning wore on he stressed the importance of putting the ball in play.

“In high school baseball, it’s not uncommon to give away as many games as you win,” he said. “That happened to Canfield tonight, but we’ve been on the losing end of games just like this one.”

After Canfield’s starting pitcher Jared Turocy struck out the next two batters, Anthony Savko walked to load the bases.

Nick Crum hit an infield single that scored Miller, Endsley scored when Tony Koch reached on an error and Savko came home when Bagoly (in his second plate appearance of the inning) was hit by a pitch to give the Falcons a 5-3 lead.

Crum scored on a bases-loaded walk, Koch on another infield single and Bagoly on a throwing error to third base to make the lead 8-3.

Canfield coach Matt Koenig said the inning snowballed on his squad.

“One error here, another there; a walk, a hit and it got away from us,” Koenig said. “You can’t give up 10 unearned runs and win any game.

“We battled back the best that we could after that, but to make an early exit in the tournament for the second year in a row makes my stomach sick,” Koenig said. “We just couldn’t get out of that inning — it was like the baseball gods said, no way.”

Canfield (18-3) scored two runs in the fourth; Kyle Vaclav scored on an error and Matt Harmon on a sac fly by Turocy.

“We had 14 hits compared to Fitch’s nine,” Koenig said. “So we hit the ball for the most part, but we came up empty in the fifth inning when we had the bases loaded.”

The Cards plated two more in the sixth frame. Turocy scored on Vaclav’s infield single and pinch hitter Brock McGivern came home on an RBI single from Justen Vrable to cut the lead to 11-7.

Ford said he wasn’t surprised to see Canfield rally.

“They [Canfield] are a good team that can hit the heck out of the ball,” Ford said. “Our starter, Miller, was bothered by some elbow trouble in the first inning, so we decided to go with Josh [Foster] in the second and he did a good job.

“In the sixth, we brought Nick Crum in to close. That’s a role he’s shared with Segesto the season, and as an experienced senior, he came up big.”

Turocy homered and Vaclav doubled home a run in Canfield’s three-run first inning.