W. Reserve seeks another Columbus trip

May 10, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

STRUTHERS

The Inter-Tri County League has the top nine seeds for the Struthers district of the Division IV baseball tournament.

Western Reserve, which advanced to the state title game in 2015, and Jackson-Milton, this year’s league champion, are the top seeds.

Lisbon (three), McDonald (four) and Southern (five) also have opening-round byes today.

Western Reserve (18-4), which also advanced to state in 2014, has five sectional titles, five district crowns, two regional championships and two state appearances under Ed Anthony is in his seventh season at the helm.

Anthony is expected to toss junior Wyatt Larimer, who is 3-0 this season. Larimer was sidelined at the beginning of the season due to arm tightness. Larimer’s varsity record is 15-0.

Dom Velasquez and Jeep DiCiccio also have 3-0 records while the offensive load is carried by infielder Walker Marlowe (.451 batting average) and Velasquez (.429).

Jackson-Milton (15-5) was district runner-up a season ago.

Under Kevin Hogue’s tutelage, the team won its first league title in 25 years.

Hogue said the tournament boasts a strong field “as evidenced by the fact that an ITCL team has gotten to the state tournament seven of the past 10 seasons.”

The Blue Jays are paced by pitchers Eric Ostrowski (5-1) and Justin Rentz (4-2). Offensive punch comes from Ostrowski (.535), Noah Laster (.485), Zak Lane (.475) and Rentz (.420).

Lisbon (12-8) is looking for its first sectional title. The Blue Devils have won five of their past six outings. Pitchers Noah Barnes (4-2), David Toot (3-2) and Logan Bell (3-1) are the architects of their team’s 12 wins.

Bell (.420), Colin Sweeney (.389) and Avery Andric (.350) are the leading hitters.

McDonald (8-10) had a three-game win streak snapped Monday.

“We’re a confident group that is peaking at the right time,” McDonald coach William Ifft said. Ben Carkido and Garrett Mulrooney each have 3-4 pitching records with Carkido (.350, Mulrooney (.349), Nate Ifft (.330) and Dylan Portolese (.302) setting the table offensively.

Southern Local (8-9), coached by Jason Glover, has won two out of three games.

“The ITCL is one of the toughest D-IV leagues around,” Glover said. “Playing that type of competition has only helped us prepare for the tournament.”

Dominic Michael (3-3) and Jesse McClurg (2-3) are the Indians’ mound mainstays with McClurg (.466), Dominic Pugliano (.431) and Jordan Myers (.357) the offensive leaders.

Today’s games include Lordstown (7-5) going up against Lowellville (4-13) at Bob Cene Park in Struthers where the district games will be.