Wednesday, May 28, 2014
By Greg Gulas
The Western Reserve baseball team will take an 18-5 record and a 13-game winning streak into regional play.
The Blue Devils will meet Division IV Barberton district winner Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas (18-8) at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Lorain Pipe Yard.
For Western Reserve coach Ed Anthony, there are just two hurdles remaining if his players expect to accomplish their early season goals.
“At the beginning of the season our goal was to win the [Inter Tri-County League], sectional and district titles and we’ve accomplished that,” Anthony said. “It’s always special to win the district and as one of just 16 teams left in Division IV, we’ll take it game-by-game knowing full well that you have to play your best if you expect to get out of the region and earn a state berth.”
Nick Allison improved to 9-0 on the season when he stopped Mathews, 5-2 in the district championship game last Friday; his first mound appearance in 12 days due to soreness in his elbow.
Anthony is expected to hand the ball to Allison in the regional semifinal against the Knights, however, Tristan Bova (5-1) is ready if his ace is forced to the sideline.
“Nick has been our workhorse all season long and did a tremendous job at basically 75 percent in the district title game. If there is no soreness and he is ready to go, then he will start against St. Thomas Aquinas,” Anthony said. “If he is unable to go then Tristan, who has also done a great job for us this season on the mound, will get the start.”
Offensively, lead-off batter Walker Marlowe is expected to set the table for those behind him while John Clegg, who had shoulder problems early in the season, has been very productive in tourney play with triples in back-to-back district games.
“Another player making noise for us in the post-season is catcher Zach Smith. He’s only a sophomore and our leading hitter in the tournament,” Anthony said. “Our pitching is strong enough that we should be in every game we play and while it might sound cliche, playing fundamentally sound defensively and taking advantage of opportunities offensively are deciding factors for all teams.”
The Knights have waited 14 years for another regional appearance. Their last came in 2000.
They’ve been district runners-up, however, on five separate occasions since 1994.
Coach Joe Bishop’s St. Thomas Aquinas team has won three in a row, captured the North Coast League’s White Division championship while allowing just one run and posting two shutouts in three tournament games.
The Knights advanced to regional action by defeating Mogadore 3-0 in sectional play, topped Ashland Mapleton, 4-1 in district semifinal action and then turned back No. 2 seed Kidron Central Christian, 5-0 in 13 innings in the district final.
“Winning our league and the district were two goals of ours when the season started,” Bishop said. “Now that we’ve made it to regionals, we don’t want it to stop there. Five of our starters were on our basketball team that made it to state and they now want to head back to the state in baseball. We have tremendous respect for Western Reserve and it should be an interesting matchup with both teams looking to advance to the title game.”
Bishop is leaning toward starting either Jeff Burchett (5-3, 3.62) or Danny DiGiambattista (4-2, 3.10) with shortstop Daniel Piero, who sports a 2.11 ERA his top reliever with six saves.
Top hitters include Sam Pusateri (.492), catcher Evan Vernier (.472) and Anthony Moeglin, the team leader in doubles (7) and RBIs (25).
The winner will advance to the regional final Friday and will take on the winner of the Attica Seneca East-Cuyahoga Heights game at 5 p.m.
The winner will advance to the state tournament, which begins June 5.