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Mahoning pitching handles Trumbull
A three-run sixth inning makes
difference at Eastwood Field
By MIKE McLAIN
NILES
There’s something about a high school all star baseball game that brings a smile to the face of the coaches.
Some of it has to do with a ceremonial goodbye to athletes they participated with and in most cases against the last few seasons. A coach will also smile knowing that getting the best of the area’s seniors often means having a roster nearly full of talented pitchers.
Poland Bulldogs coach Rich Murray, whose staff coached Mahoning County in the third annual High School Valley All-Star Classic, went six deep into his staff of pitchers with effective results across the board. Other than allowing one unearned run in the eighth inning, Mahoning County stifled Trumbull County bats in posting a 4-1 win Friday at Eastwood Field.
“It’s a great group of kids and very talented,” Murray said. “The pitchers all threw strikes. It made it very easy on us.”
Joe DeLucia of Canfield started for Mahoning County and worked a perfect first inning. He was followed to the mound by Mike Jones of Campbell Memorial, Colin Shinosky of Hubbard, Mike Maillis of Poland, Travis Baxter of South Range and Alex Schlosser of Ursuline.
Jones and Shinosky each worked two innings. Maillis, Baxter and Schlosser finished up with one inning each. Schlosser allowed the unearned run when J.J. Nicholas of Newton Falls doubled with two outs in the eighth, stole third and scored when the throw by catcher Nathan Sommers of Springfield Local skipped into left field.
The game was originally planned for seven innings, but an extra inning was added so that Niles McKinley coach Michael Guarnieri, coach of Trumbull County, could get plate appearances for each of the players on the larger roster of the losing team.
Trumbull County also received good work from the seven pitchers used by Guarnieri. The winners scored one run in the first off starter Grant Sprague of LaBrae and added three runs in the sixth off Brandon Fraley of Brookfield.
“It was nice because you could roll anybody out because everyone has their aces,” Guarnieri said. “It makes your job a little easier.”
Mahoning County sent nine batters to the plate in the sixth, with the key hit being a two-run single by Walker Marlowe of Western Reserve. Schlosser and Springield’s Nathan Sommers, both of whom singled, scored on Marlowe’s single.
The winners loaded the bases after taking a 3-0 lead on a single by Pat Carano of Struthers and a walk to Josh Zmuda of Sebring McKinley. Fraley then walked Jonathoan Griffin of Liberty to score Marlowe.
The game drew a decent-sized crowd on a warm, sun-filled evening. The relaxed atmosphere made for a great ending to another high school season.
“It was a great environment and a really nice event that they put on for these seniors,” Guarneri said. “All of them had great high school careers. It was a nice way to wrap up the end of their high school careers.”
While there was a sense of it being the end of the line for those that won’t play at the next level, Murray looks at it as a new beginning.
“The neat thing about being a coach is you get to come back every year and re-do it,” Murray said. “The kids move on, but we get to come back. It’s fun.”