Canfield’s Machuga wins battle of the birds at Cene
Machuga wins battle of the birds at Cene
By Joe Scalzo
STRUTHERS
Canfield High baseball coach Matt Koenig was hoping junior Joey Machuga would give him five solid innings and a chance to win.
He got a lot more than that.
Machuga threw a two-hitter and Canfield survived four errors to hang on for a 3-2 victory over Cardinal Mooney in Wednesday’s Division II district semifinal at Cene Park.
“He gave us more than we expected,” Koenig said. “We asked for five [innings], but you know what? He’s a bulldog up there. He works his tail off.
“I have a feeling that if we tried to take the ball out of his hand, he would have pushed him as far into the dugout as we could have gone.”
Machuga (4-2) carried a no-hitter into the fifth but gave up two runs that inning on a single, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a sacrifice fly and Canfield’s fourth infield error as Mooney pulled within one run. Machuga gave up a single in the sixth and a walk in the seventh but Canfield used double plays both times to escape.
“You’ve just got to throw strikes in a game like this and give your defense an opportunity to make plays for you,” said Machuga, who finished with one strikeout and two walks. “Obviously Cardinal Mooney is a great team, so I was a little nervous [at first], but once I got on the mound, everything kind of calmed down.”
Canfield senior Mike Sebes — one of just two seniors in the lineup — hit a two-run double just over the center fielder’s glove in the first inning for Canfield (15-13), which will meet Poland in the district final at 6:30 p.m. today at Cene Park. Canfield’s other senior, Kyle Kovach, had two hits and scored a run.
“We start two sophomores in the middle infield and juniors just about everywhere else, so it’s been a learning process this year,” Koenig said. “I don’t have much hair on my head and if I did it would be gone for good [after this season]. These guys have been through a lot of ups and a LOT of downs, but we’re somehow able to get victories.”
Christian Humphreys singled, walked and scored a run for Mooney (13-9) and Christian Lowery walked and scored. Lowery (7-1) also went the distance on the mound, giving up five hits with two walks and no strikeouts in his first loss of the season.
“Their pitcher pitched a great game and so did ours,” said Mooney coach Al Franceschelli, whose team beat Canfield 2-0 in last year’s district semifinal. “We had a lot of opportunities in the late innings and just didn’t make the plays that we had to.
“You’ve got to make plays at this level, especially when you get this far in the tournament.”
Canfield lost its only meeting this season with Poland, 7-3, on April 24. While the top-seeded Bulldogs will be favored, Koenig thinks his team’s schedule has prepared the Cardinals for this moment. Canfield played all Division I programs in conference play and also scheduled Division I teams such as Massillon Jackson and Hudson.
“They’ve got one on us right now and hopefully we can get one back,” Koenig said of Poland.
Added Machuga: “They’re a very good team and I’m expecting a good game from them, but we can hang. We can hang.”