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Hamilton shuts out Boardman in 10-11 Little League state tournament
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Boardman’s John Hyde connects with a pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning during the Little League Baseball 10-11 state semifinal against Hamilton on Thursday at the Hoover Community Recreation Complex in North Canton. Boardman was shut out, 7-0, to fall into the losers bracket and a meeting with North Canton today.
Hamilton pitching shuts down
Boardman offense in North Canton
By CURTIS PULLIAM
NORTH CANTON
Jacob Gehring figured out what the problem was for his team.
“I just think we didn’t hit very good,” Gehring said. “We came into the game pretty flat.”
The slow start cost Gehring and the Boardman’s 10-11 baseball team a spot Saturday’s championship, falling to Hamilton 7-0. Boardman plays North Canton today to try to earn a berth for Saturday.
Manager Jason Triveri feels his team can survive the setback.
“Pitching-wise we are still in pretty good shape,” Triveri said. “Pitching is not the problem. It’s obviously the hitting.”
Boardman’s bats were shut down by Hamilton’s Carson Haynes, who pitched 5 1/3 innings of shutout baseball. Haynes also recorded five strikeouts.
“Carson threw well tonight,” Hamilton coach Tim Nichting said. “He battled for us.”
After a quick first inning, Hamilton got on the board in the top of the second. Starting with a walk, Hamilton put five consecutive batters on base. An RBI single by Braden Hubbard made it 1-0. But after what looked to be a big inning for Hamilton, Boardman pitcher Justin Jones was able to escape the inning.
Boardman’s hitters went quietly in the next two innings, leaving the door open for Hamilton. With Jones still on the mound, Hamilton pushed across four runs in the fourth for a 5-0 lead.
Jones went five innings, giving up six hits and five runs. He added four strikeouts.
“I was just trying to throw strikes,” Jones said. “I was trying to be myself.”
Boardman’s best chance offensively came in the bottom of the fourth. Michael Pastella reached on an error and Gehring hit a high chopper to the right side of the infield for a single. However, Haynes answered with two straight strikeouts. After a walk to C.J. Cordon, Haynes induced a groundout to end the threat.
“He pitched a great game,” Triveri said. “He mixed it up well and he hit spots with his fastball. Even when we were seeing the fastball that we wanted to see, he would be inside corner or outside corner.”
Hamilton added two runs in the top of the sixth with an RBI double from Jackson Lewis and a run-scoring groundout by Daryan Bowling. Boardman did not go easily in the bottom of the inning. Pastella singled and Gehring was hit by a pitch. But three strikeouts by Hamilton pitching ended the game.
“He [Haynes] had a lot of our kids thinking instead of reacting,” Triveri said. “I told the kids, ‘Sometimes you just run into a great pitcher,’ and that’s what we did.”
John Hyde and Cordon drew walks for Boardman. Ty Ventresco and Patrick Hubert closed out the game pitching.
Despite the quick turnaround, Triveri will start Gehring on the mound and knows his offense must help out his pitcher.
“It’s a matter of taking extra swings like we’ve been doing and recognizing pitches,” Triveri said. “There’s not a fastball we can’t hit, but we see someone with a good off-speed pitch, we start looking for that and get away from our game plan.”