Defensive woes sink Mooney

June 1, 2013 at 12:03a.m.

HUDSON

While Akron Hoban enjoyed a highly successful offensive evening, Cardinal Mooney’s defense was — for lack of a better term — downright offensive.

Drew Lakos threw a six-hitter and Sean Traxler added three hits — including two triples — and the Knights capitalized on six Cardinal Mooney errors in a 14-4 victory Friday in a Division II regional final at The Ball Park at Hudson.

Akron Hoban will now advance to the state semifinals. The Knights will meet Cadiz Harrison Central, winner of the Zanesville regional, Thursday at 7 p.m. at Huntington Park in Columbus. Harrison Central beat Waverly, 8-7, on Friday.

“I started the game off a little shaky by giving up four runs in the first two innings, however, I was able to settle down and then work at my pace,” Lakos said. “Cardinal Mooney is an excellent hitting team — a team that doesn’t give you a break during any part of their order. I had to be careful with the entire lineup, also relying on great defense behind me.”

Back-to-back doubles by Austin Farber and Jordan Burns staked the Knights to the early 2-0 advantage in the first inning.

The Cardinals cut the advantage in half during their first at-bat when Drew DelSignore doubled, advanced to third as Drew Beck reached on an error and then scored when he and Beck pulled off a perfectly executed double steal.

Akron Hoban increased its margin to 4-1 in the second inning when Traxler’s infield single keyed a two-run rally, but Cardinal Mooney answered in its half of the inning when Ryan Megyesi’s single highlighted a three-run outburst to knot the game at 4 apiece.

With the game still tied 4-all heading to the sixth inning, the Knights sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring seven times on six hits as they opened an 11-4 lead.

It was an inning the Cardinals (21-8) would like to forget, committing four of their six miscues in the frame.

“Any time you give a team extra outs you’re going to pay and we paid tonight against an excellent hitting team in Akron Hoban. We had too many breakdowns and just couldn’t recover,” Cardinals coach Al Franceschelli said. “We were evenly matched through five innings and it became a matter of which pitcher would outlast the other. This team never quit the entire season and that is the reason we had such a successful year.”

The Knights (20-10) added three more runs for good measure in the seventh inning. All three runs scored with two outs.

“We’ve never won a state title, losing two years ago in the championship game, so needless to say we’re very excited about another opportunity at a state crown,” Knights coach Jim Diestel said. “Drew was focused on the mound the entire game, but give our catcher, Anthony Osmun, a lot of that credit as well because he called an excellent game behind the plate.”

The Cardinals fell in the district title game a season ago and saw their season end this time in a regional final.

“One of our goals was to improve upon last year’s finish and we did just that,” DelSignore said. “Everyone played with a lot of heart and emotion all season long and it’s a great feeling, whether you win or lose, when you can say that you left everything on the field. That’s the main reason we had an enjoyable year.”