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Western Reserve baseball defeats JFK in D4 semifinal
STRUTHERS
Walker Marlowe had his problems at third base as a runner, but they weren’t detrimental enough to affect the final outcome: a 5-3 Western Reserve win over Warren JFK in a Division IV district semifinal baseball game at Cene Park on Tuesday.
Reserve (19-5-1) plays Jackson-Milton in the district title game today at Cene at 6:30 to decide the area’s qualifier to the Lorain regional. Earlier this season, the Blue Devils beat J-M, 4-3, in seven innings, then, a day later, the teams played to an 11-inning tie.
“We’re going to come in hot, obviously, after a win, but I feel pretty good about it,” said Marlowe, who finished with two singles, while Jacob Clark, Jeep DiCiccio and winning pitcher John Clegg had a double apiece to account for the winners’ five hits. Clark had two RBIs.
“We scouted and knew what the [starting] pitcher [Ryan Lee] was throwing, so we were prepared,” said Marlowe, who was involved in two plays that had the potential to work against the winners.
In the bottom of the third, Marlowe’s run-scoring tag-up was negated when JFK (10-13) appealed the play for Marlowe leaving base early. Instead of Western Reserve holding a 2-1 lead, it was the inning’s third out and the score resorted to 1-1.
In the fifth inning, with the Blue Devils leading, 3-1, and Marlowe on third base, the Reserve runner was hit in the calf by a teammate’s grounder, while standing on the bag. Observers thought that Marlowe should have been called out.
“They said I was in foul territory,” said Marlowe, who soon scored, followed by Evan Nesbitt crossing the plate for a 5-1 advantage.
JFK coach Don Lee agreed that the dead-ball call was correct.
“He had one foot on [the bag] and one foot in foul territory and the ball hit him in foul territory.”
Another Blue Devil, Zach Smith, gave Reserve coach Ed Anthony reason to question other baserunning plays because Smith was caught stealing home for the bottom-of-the-third inning’s first out.
“He went on a passed ball that we shouldn’t have — that was the first mistake,” Anthony said of the JFK putout on a throw from Ryan Lee to catcher Anthony Marino.
“The second mistake was when the runner [Marlowe] didn’t listen when we said ‘go’ on a deep fly ball and he jumped a little early. I was hoping they wouldn’t appeal that. Those are mistakes that end up costing you in bigger games. Luckily, here, it didn’t.”
Otherwise, Anthony was pleased with Clegg finishing the seven-inning game after 40 pitches in Monday’s rain-suspended game.
“He did that for us last year when he carried us to state. I’m also pleased with the way our kids attacked the plate today. They had some nice shots,” he said of one, such as John’s [Clegg] double to the right-field fence that scored Jacob [Clark] with the eventual go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth.
“Our guys know what it takes because we were there last year,” said Anthony, whose team is attempting to reach the regional for the fourth time in five years.
To end the game in the top of the seventh, Smith took a throw from center-fielder Nesbitt, then threw to third baseman DiCiccio, who tagged Preston Caparanis, who was trying to stretch his long fly ball.
“I knew I didn’t have a play at home [as pinch-runner Christian McIntosh approached the plate],” said Smith, “but I saw an opportunity to get an out to finish the game and I executed it.”