Saturday, May 30, 2015
By James Brady
LORAIN
Western Reserve’s preseason goals checklist has one box left to check off and it says, “Division IV state champion.”
The Blue Devils checked off the regional champion box on Friday at the USS Pipe Yard with a 9-3 win over eighth-ranked Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas, thanks to a huge eight-run fourth inning and solid starting pitching from senior John Clegg.
Clegg went the first five innings, allowing just three hits and one run.
Western Reserve returns to Huntington Park in Columbus at 7 p.m. Thursday to face Hicksville after the Aces beat fourth-ranked Miller City, 5-1.
“We put our goals on the blackboard before the start of the year,” said Blue Devils coach Ed Anthony. “It’s not a cliche, but the goals were to win the ITCL, win the sectional, the district, the region and to go to state — this year our goal is to also win the state championship.
“It’s a lofty goal, but we have some experience from last year. But we are going to have to work our tails off to check off that last goal.”
Unlike a 2-0 regional semifinal win against New Riegel on Thursday, Western Reserve (22-5) trailed early when Clegg (6-4) walked Aaron Hoffman to start the inning and he came around to score on an error and a single through the middle by Zach Courter.
Clegg got out of trouble in the third stranding a pair of runners who had both walked before Western Reserve exploded at the plate in the top of the fourth for eight runs.
The first eight Blue Devil batters all reached base and scored against Aquinas starter Daniel Piero and reliever Michael Greene.
Jake Clark (single), Jeep DiCiccio (walk) and Clegg (single) loaded the bases for Evan Nesbitt, who gave the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead driving in two with a single to left.
The next run came home on an error off the bat of Drew Slevan and Ian Hames kept the rally going with a full-count single over the shortstop for a 4-1 lead.
Wyatt Larimer and Walker Marlowe followed driving in runs with a bases-loaded walk and single, respectively, to raise the lead to 6-1.
Clark reached again in his second at-bat of the frame on the Knights’ second error that allowed the seventh run to come home.
The first out of the inning came when DiCiccio hit a sacrifice fly to right for the final run of the outburst, giving Western Reserve plenty of breathing room for the balance of the game.
“We knew that they [St. Thomas] were a real good hitting team and we couldn’t let up at all,” said Nesbitt, who had two hits and two runs scored. “We have seen a number of pitchers that had the same style this year and we were able to just jump on him for the big inning.”
Clegg danced out of trouble in the next two innings leaving one runner on in the fourth and the bases loaded in the fifth, getting a pop-up to first to keep the Knights (25-7) off the board.
“We did this last year and it was a great experience,” Clegg said who stranded 10 runners from the second to fifth innings. “Those guys are good hitters and it just came down to my teammates making some plays for me to get out of trouble.
“It was awesome to finally crack a smile on the mound after that fourth inning. It was a relief to have some of the pressure taken off, but we made sure to stay focused to win this game.”