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East Palestine shocks Springfield
Bulldogs snap tie
with two runs in
top of seventh
By DAN HINER
NEW MIDDLETOWN
Marshall Huddleston came through in the clutch and East Palestine won a sectional title Friday.
With runners at second and third and one out in the top of the seventh inning, Huddleston hit a line-drive single to center field to drive home Sam Yarosz and snap a 2-2 tie against the Tigers.
Josh Fristik followed with a sacrifice fly and the Bulldogs went on to beat Springfield, 4-2, in a Division III sectional final.
“It’s nuts,” East Palestine head coach Eric Barone said. “Springfield is a great baseball tradition. They have a good program, and they are a great team. They battled — it was a heavyweight fight tonight. Two teams went out and battled to the last pitch.”
The Bulldogs will meet South Range in a district semifinal Thursday at Cene Park. The Raiders beat Columbiana, 8-1, in another sectional final.
East Palestine took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning after Ian Elliot scored on a sacrifice fly.
Springfield (18-9) took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Mark Schuler hit a two-run double over the centerfielder’s head. Hunter Snyder and Dalton Donachie scored on the play.
East Palestine (15-8) tied the game at 2 in the top of the fifth inning when Fristik singled up the middle to bring home pinch runner Reid Frye.
The Bulldogs began the top of the seventh with a leadoff walk by Yarosz and Alex Guy was hit by a pitch. Both runners were advanced by a sacrifice bunt Jared Spratt — setting up Huddleston and Fristik.
The Tigers appeared to be in position to score in the bottom of the seventh, but a questionable call by the umpire 6-4-3 double play halted Springfield’s momentum. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Snyder hit a grounder to short. The Bulldogs got the out at second, but Snyder appeared to beat the throw to first base.
Springfield head coach Matt Weymer said he discussed the call with the umpire, and the umpire admitted he missed the call, but Weymer didn’t use the missed call an excuse for the loss.
“He admitted he missed it,” Weymer said. “He said he felt bad, but that doesn’t win you the game. If our kids use that as a crutch, then we’re not looking in the mirror hard enough. I think he missed the call — he knows he missed the call — but it still wasn’t enough to do what we needed to do.
“If we take care of our business, that never even happens. We don’t even get to bat in the seventh inning. We scored a couple runs in the sixth and the games over. We just didn’t do the little things, and you get beat.”
Fristik picked up the win for East Palestine. He allowed two runs on six hits, two walks and four strikeouts.
Donachie appeared to be the more dominant pitcher. He allowed four runs on two hits and two walks and struck out seven.
Barone said the East Palestine’s win is a good representation of the progress the baseball program has made in the past several seasons.
“It’s definitely a stepping stone,” Barone said. “Last year we won our first tournament game in eight years. It’s the first winning season since 2008, and we made it one step further than last year. That was one of our goals.
“Sometimes as coaches we get ahead of ourselves, and we start look at the big picture. We gotta take baby steps and coach these players up the right way. The kids have been responding great. They come to practice every day ready to work and they really are a joy to coach.”