D-IV baseball semifinals set for today at Bob Cene Park

May 22, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

Western Reserve defeated Lowellville both times this year en route to the outright Inter Tri-County League Tier Two crown.

What remains uppermost in coach Ed Anthony’s mind, however, aren’t this year’s victories but the fact that coach Ben Santiago’s Rockets eliminated his Blue Devils in last year’s sectional tournament.

The top-seeded Blue Devils (16-5) will meet the seventh-seeded Rockets (11-12) at 4 p.m. while third-seeded Mathews (16-4) takes on second-seeded Jackson-Milton (12-5) at 3:30 p.m.in today’s Division IV district semifinals at Bob Cene Park.

“This is going to be a very tough district because all four teams have the capability of advancing to regional play. You don’t have the option of looking ahead because anything can happen in a two-day tournament,” Anthony said. “You get in trouble when you aren’t focused and while we may have had some success against Lowellville this year, we know they have an excellent program and what they can do so we’ll just take it one game at a time and hope for the best.”

The Blue Devils won 13 of 14 league contests and are one of three ITCL representatives in the division.

Either Nick Allison or Tristan Bova will get the starting nod from Anthony and while Allison is undefeated in eight tries with a stingy 0.30 earned run average, their offense complements a very stingy defense.

Centerfielder Dan Rosati (.514) has swiped all 23 of his stolen-base attempts and has scored 26 runs while lead-off batter Walker Marlowe (.407) sets the table and is tops on the team in runs with 28.

Evan Nezbitt (.420) is also a threat with 16 runs and 11 stolen bases.

Santiago’s Rockets struggled to find an identity early in the season, however, things have finally come together over the last several outings and defense has been the main reason.

“We were making too many errors that took us out of games early in the year and that was frustrating because we’re a good defensive team. We’ve made just one error our in our last three games and that’s been a big reason for our success,” Santiago said.

The Rockets will call upon either Tyler Barone (1-1) or Tyler Rotz (3-1) with Joey Coppola also in the mix for the starting assignment.

Catcher Nick Micco (.475), designated hitter Joe Micco (.327) and clean-up hitter Vince Hynes (.365) are looked to for much-needed offensive punch.

“Western Reserve is a great team and the No. 1 seed for a reason. They have excellent pitching and hit the ball so we need to keep them off the base paths and play defense if we expect to have a chance,” Santiago said. “To be the best you have to beat the best and like the other teams, I, too, like our chances.”

Jackson-Milton enters their game with Mathews having won 29 games over the past two seasons.

Head coach Kevin Hogue’s Blue Jays have won back-to-back sectional titles for the first time in 12 seasons but have yet to win a district crown, eliminated last season in semi-final play by McDonald.

“We must play solid defense and along with solid pitching, cannot beat ourselves,” Hogue said. “Fielding has been our Achilles heel when we’ve lost. We must also hit the ball and put players on base in order to create scoring opportunities.”

Hogue will call on Nick Woloschak (4-2, 1.31) or Nate Clark (3-2, 1.41) while as a team, they sport a stingy 2.21 staff ERA.

They’re also hitting at a .440 clip collectively with shortstop Jerry Fitzpatrick (.490) and Scott Mitchell (.441), a freshman, tops offensively.

Mathews is coming off a 7-4 win over Badger on Tuesday, a game in which they clinched the Northeastern Athletic Conference title with a 12-1 league mark.

They’ve also won 13 straight games heading into today’s contest with the Blue Jays.

“We lost our first two games, stood at 3-4 overall and then things began to click for us. Pitching, defense and timely hitting have been keys during that streak so we’re hoping that continues in district play,” Mustangs coach Jared Terlecky said.

Terlecky’s pitching plans include starting either Jeremy Forsythe (5-0, 1.56) or Bryan Leipply (5-1, 2.10).

“We threw both pitchers against McDonald in the sectional semifinal game and while one will start, the other will probably find his way to the mound as well,” Terlecky said.

The Mustangs not only count on both players’ arms, but their bats are potent as well with Leipply hitting at a .480 clip and Forsythe sporting a .385 average from his familiar cleanup spot.

The Division IV final take place Friday at 5 p.m.