Warren Harding falls to St. Ed in Div. I

May 21, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By JOE SCALZO

STRUTHERS

In Thursday’s Allie versus Frazier championship matchup, the Warren Harding High baseball team had one of the best players in America on the ropes.

Then Lakewood St. Edward found its second wind.

Behind a 17-strikeout performance from ace Stetson Allie, the Eagles turned back Harding 9-4 in a Division I district final at Cene Park.

“We came into the game, saying, ‘Hey, they’re humans too. They’re high school kids,’” said Raider senior Joe Sekula, who had two hits, scored a run and was the only Harding batter not to strike out. “They’re obviously more experienced than us but we played hard.”

Allie, a North Carolina recruit who is expected to be drafted in the first round of next month’s MLB draft, reached his season-high in strikeouts but needed 120 pitches to do it. Nearly 20 major league scouts were sprinkled throughout the stands as Allie reached the mid-90s on the radar guns but wasn’t as sharp as usual.

“He’s a horse,” said his father, Eagles coach Danny Allie, whose team won its third straight district title. “His velocity was not what it usually is, but we cost him a few pitches [with our defense].

“I know we had 17 strikeouts, but at the end of the day, our defense was really poor and added about 20-30 pitches. That’s unacceptable.”

Allie had a no-hitter going through 42/3 innings but gave up three straight singles with two outs as the Raiders cut the deficit to 4-3. But Allie (7-1) struck out Mitch Lowry with the bases loaded to end the threat. Two innings later, Allie again struck out Lowry with two runners on to end the game.

“We had our opportunities and we let them slip through our fingers,” said Harding coach Ed Shaker, whose team lost to St. Edward 8-3 in last year’s district semifinals. “We seen him last year and we seen him this year and he definitely has more control.

“It’s one thing seeing 84 miles an hour yesterday, it’s another seeing 94 today. It’s a huge difference.”

Chris Zadroski added a single and two walks for the Raiders (19-7). Starter Will Frazier gave up four runs in four innings to get the loss.

“We’re trying to put our program on the map,” Shaker said. “We feel like we can compete with the better baseball programs in the state.”