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Defensive gamble pays off in Mathews’ victory
By Steve WILAJ
Struthers
With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the third inning, Mathews third baseman Alex Bagaglia dropped to his knees to smother a ground ball off the bat of Jackson-Milton’s Nick Woloschak.
Left with a few options, Bagaglia opted to try for the most difficult out and threw home. It bounced once and landed in catcher Cobie Pratt’s glove a step before Eric Ostrowski reached the plate as the Mustangs maintained a one-run lead.
And this all happened just before Mathews coach Jared Terlecky could shout out his orders.
“Believe me, I was right on the verge of saying ‘Tag third base’ as he threw it,” Terlecky said. “It was a risky play.”
In turn, the Mustangs escaped the third inning unharmed and the Bluejays didn’t come any closer to scoring the rest of the way as Mathews defeated Jackson-Milton, 3-0, in a Division IV district semifinal Thursday at Bob Cene Park.
“If he just goes to third with that, Jackson-Milton breaks the ice and it might be a different game,” Terlecky said. “So that was a really key play.”
It was smooth sailing from that point on for Mustangs starting pitcher Bryan Leipply. After struggling with his command the first few innings, he settled down to toss seven scoreless frames while striking out five and walking six.
“It was just a little playoff jitters at first,” Leipply said. “I had to find the zone — every umpire has a different one. So I had to find that and stick with it.”
Leipply also allowed the Bluejays (12-6) just two hits.
“He kept us off-balance and we helped him out by chasing and swinging at some bad pitches,” said Jackson-Milton head coach Kevin Hogue. “One key hit would have brought us back into it. We had our chances.”
The Mustangs (18-4) took advantage of their offensive chances.
They went ahead in the second inning when Jeremy Forsythe scored from second on an errant throw to first. An RBI single by Pratt in the fourth made it 2-0. Leipply added an RBI single in the seventh.
“Their pitcher was real consistent and pounded the strike zone,” Terlecky said. “He stranded some of our guys — a couple more timely hits would have been nice. I’m just happy we got out with a win.”
Woloschak lasted six innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits. He struck out four and walked three.
“He throws strikes and that’s all you can ask for,” Hogue said. “We know when we usually give up less than three [runs] we win. But tonight we just didn’t hit it.”
Mathews advances to play top-seeded Western Reserve at 5 p.m. today. It will be the Mustangs’ first district final appearance since 2010 as they’ll seek to win the title for the first time since 1996.
“They play good baseball and they’re well coached,” Terlecky said. “But I like our guys too, and the game can go either way.”