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Fitch hangs on to edge Struthers
Photo
Fitch’s Tony Adams (4) follows through as Nick Gigax (8) of Struthers tries to break up the play during an All-American Conference baseball game Wednesday in Austintown. The Falcons edged the Wildcats, 9-8.
Fitch hangs on to edge Struthers
By BRANDON JUDEH
Austintown
A pitchers duel turned into a back-and-forth slugfest during the Austintown Fitch baseball team’s 9-8 victory over Struthers on Wednesday.
The Falcons’ Scott Pierce and the Wildcats’ Roman Salinas matched each other pitch for pitch until Pierce decided to take matters into his own hands.
In the third inning, Pierce stepped up to the plate with one on and one out and blasted a homer to left field to break a scoreless tie.
“It always feels good to help yourself out and it felt good to get my first home run here,” Pierce said.
Later in the inning, Logan Kane knocked in a run off of a double to push the lead to three.
That’s when things got sloppy for the Falcons (12-11, 5-7 All-American Conference American Division).
The fifth inning was a disaster for the Falcons as they committed four errors that led to six Wildcats runs.
A throwing error by shortstop Tony Adams led to the first two runs. Two batters later, Anthony Lariccia singled in two more to give Struthers (11-9, 3-6) a 4-3 lead and swinging the momentum in their favor.
Two more consecutive errors gave Struthers a three-run lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.
“I made a couple errors coming into the fifth and I knew I had to make up for my mistakes to help my team win and I got the opportunity to do so,” Adams said.
Adams stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and two down. He lined a ball into left-center field that cleared the bases and tied the game.
“It was a great way to win and send our seniors out like this on their last home game,” Adams said.
Pierce shut the Wildcats down 1-2-3 in the sixth. In the bottom half of the inning Pierce delivered an RBI double.
“It felt great to have the winning hit,” Pierce said.
The top of the seventh inning was a shaky one for Pierce as he gave up three consecutive hits for a 9-8 score before an out was recorded. With runners on second and third, the Falcons were sweating.
But Pierce reached into his bag of tricks and retired the final three batters to pick up the victory.
Adams feels confident about the way his team is playing and says they are in good shape as the playoffs are approaching.
“We are feeling pretty good getting a win like this and we just need to win both games in our doubleheader on Saturday and I think we will be in good shape.”
For the Falcons, Anthony Paris went 3-4 and Kane knocked in two runs. Pierce allowed eight runs, but only two were earned.
Lariccia had two RBIs on two hits and Nick Gigax also added two RBIs for the Wildcats.