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Canfield's Vross, Woolley bully on Harding
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By Greg Gulas
CANFIELD
Staked to an early four-run lead, Canfield pitcher Jack Rafoth struck out 11 batters to help the Cardinals defeat Warren Harding, 9-2.
“I just started to throw a lot of strikes and even though they hit some of them, we were able to prevent the big inning,” Rafoth said after Monday’s All-America Conference Red Tier game at Bova Field.
Canfield (4-1, 2-1) rapped out nine hits. Spencer Woolley’s two hits, included a triple and Anthony Vross hit two doubles.
Rafoth threw 112 pitches, but he only walked one.
“My arm felt alright,” Rafoth said, adding it was nice to win a league game. “Our league is pretty competitive.”
The Cardinals batted around in the opening frame with Vross’ first inning double plating the first run just two batters into the game.
Ian McGraw’s two-run single was the big blow in their four-run uprising.
“I was just hoping to drive everything to right field today and I was able to,” Vross said. “This was a big league win for us because we haven’t [won the title] in a while.”
The Raiders (0-3-1, 0-3) cut the deficit in half in the third inning, on run-scoring singles by Grant Williams and Brandon Arnold.
After a shaky start, Raiders pitcher Jordan Wittway settled down. He allowed just two hits over the next three innings without allowing a run to keep the game close.
Failing to get timely hits has been costly for the Raiders.
“It just seems like we take an inning-or-two off,” Harding coach Andrew Burnett said. “It was the same against Poland last week in that we dig a hole and then have to play catchup.
“We hit the ball hard and had our chances, but they made their plays and we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities.”
Canfield broke the game open in the fifth inning, scoring five times for a seven-run lead. The key blows were a two-run single by Angelo Petracci and run-scoring triple by Woolley.
Each team finished with four errors.
“We swung the bats well today,” Wooley said. “I was looking fastball and our whole team was just looking to take the ball the other way today.”
Cardinals coach Matt Koenig said Rafoth “did a great job on the mound. He was overpowering the bottom half of their order but I thought that their guys at the top of the order, their one through five hitters had some good swings.
Koenig said there is room for improvement.
“We allowed a couple of balls to get past us at third base and one at second, but we have a lot of young guys who are playing varsity for the first time,” Koenig said. “It’s going to be a learning process.”