ITCL teams face off in Div. IV district

May 17, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

STRUTHERS

Familiar faces are standing in the way of the Western Reserve High School baseball team’s hopes of a third trip to Columbus.

At the Division IV district semifinals at Bob Cene Park today, top-seeded Western Reserve (18-5), last year’s state runner-up, will face Lisbon (13-8).

Inter-Tri County League rivals Jackson-Milton (17-5) and McDonald (9-12) will play in the other semifinal.

In Ed Anthony’s seven seasons as Western Reserve coach, the team has played in six district tournaments.

“With all four district teams hailing from the ITCL, that right there speaks volumes about the strength of our league,” Anthony said. “The team that comes out of the district will do well in regional play.

“We’re good enough to win the district, but so are the other three teams.”

Anthony feels that his team is strong offensively, fielding a line-up capable of producing runs from anywhere in the order.

“We’re as good a hitting team as in past years, just not it as deep pitching-wise,” Anthony said.

The Blue Devils count on pitchers Wyatt Larimer (4-0), Jeep DiCiccio (3-0) and Dom Velasquez (3-0) with Walker Marlowe (.458) and Velasquez (.431) the big bats offensively.

Lisbon has won six of its past seven contests.

Head coach Doug Andric is in his fifth season at the helm with pitchers Noah Barnes (4-2), David Toot (3-2) and Logan Bell (3-1), and hitters Bell (.420), Colin Sweeney (.389) and Avery Andric (.350) the mainstays.

Jackson-Milton comes in as ITCL Blue Tier champions. The Bluejays defeated Leetonia, 12-2 in five innings to advance to district play.

Coach Kevin Hogue has the luxury of choosing from four quality starters with Eric Ostrowski (6-1, 1.75 earned run average), Justin Rentz (4-1, 2.25), Noah Laster (4-1, 2.21) and Zack Lane (3-1, 1.75).

Ostrowski (.533), Laster (.489), Lane (.389), Rentz (.360) and Johnathan Boland (.326, 25 runs batted in) are the offensive threats.

McDonald, which has won three in a row, features Ben Carkido (3-4, 2.05), who enters district play looking to toss a third consecutive no-hitter.

McDonald head coach William Ifft said his concern “is our hitting. If we can hit, then we’ll be a force to reckon with.

As for Ben, he was just a walk and error away from a perfect game his last time out. We just need to give him run support.”

Ifft also counts on Garrett Mulrooney (3-2, 2.63) and Joey Sudol (2-1, 2.96) to shoulder the pitching load with Carkido (.402), Mulrooney (.401), Dylan Portolese (.363) and Nate Ifft (.380) providing key offensive punch.