Poland’s Burkert shuts out West Branch
Burkert throws shutout
as Bulldogs advance
to today’s district final
By Greg Gulas
STRUTHERS
Poland defeated West Branch 4-0 last year, riding a no-hitter by Pat Carlozzi into the Division II district finals.
On Wednesday at Cene Park, Bulldogs pitcher Jared Burkert was equally impressive, tossing a two-hitter and striking out 11 for another 4-0 win over the Warriors and a spot in Thursday’s championship game against Canfield at Cene Park.
The Cardinals punched their finals ticket by posting a 3-2 win over the Cardinal Mooney Cardinals.
“I was able to hit my spots with my fastball today, but my slider had a sharp bite and I used that pitch quite a bit as well,” said Burkert, who moved to 5-0 and also added a sacrifice fly to account for one of his team’s runs. “This is what we’ve worked for all year. West Branch is an excellent hitting team. I know a couple of their players and they can crunch the ball, so to hold them to just two hits is a good feeling.”
The Bulldogs (24-2) left seven runners on base through the first three innings, but broke through with the game’s first run in the fourth when Anthony Calcagni drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored when Marty Malenic followed with a single to left.
Poland added two more runs in the fifth when Burkert reached on an error, stole second and advanced to third on Jake Hawkins’ infield single.
Both players then scored on a single by Nick Romeo for a 3-0 advantage.
“West Branch is a quality team. We stranded quite a few runners early and expected a tight game, but got a break with some timely hitting in the middle innings,” Romeo said. “Jared was simply incredible on the hill today. When he’s throwing like that not many teams are going to hit him.”
Burkert’s sacrifice fly in the sixth scored Calcagni with the game’s final tally.
“Leaving runners in scoring position is something no team likes to do. When you pass on those opportunities, it can get a little tough on you in the later innings,” Poland coach Rich Murray said. “Jared was lights-out for us today. He had command of everything that he threw and we were able to get timely hitting when we needed it.”
The Warriors (20-9) advanced just one runner to second base, that coming on back-to-back singles by Jake Smith and Kip DeShields in the opening inning.
Burkert then set down 16 of the next 17 West Branch batters before allowing a lead-off walk in the final inning.
“Our kids played hard but we ran into a great pitcher today. Poland has a great program and is the measuring stick in our area,” West Branch coach Shawn Alazaus said. “We had a great pitching performance from Andrew Shutler. He did exactly what we needed him to do for us. He made big pitches when he needed to and worked out of jams in each of the first three innings.”
Poland and Canfield will meet in a district final at 6:30 p.m. today on Field 1 at Cene.