S. Range’s Deal delivers in 10th
By Greg Gulas
STRUTHERS
South Range baseball coach Jim Hanek had a very simple plan in the season opening game against Boardman.
That plan called for starting Dan Ritter on the mound, letting him go four innings and then switching over to Nick Deal to finish the game.
Hanek didn’t figure on extra innings, however, and Deal further surprised his head coach by adding the game-winning hit to his line score.
Deal’s single in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the Raiders a 4-3 win at Bob Cene Park.
“It was a fast ball, high and in and my kind of pitch,” Deal said. “It was perfect for me, in my wheelhouse and all I wanted to do was just make contact.”
Brandon Youngs led off the 10th with a single up the middle, moved to second base on Jared Bajerski’s sacrifice bunt and then scored.
“I was hoping to make contact, so I didn’t swing hard,” Youngs said. “Just wanted to get into scoring position.”
It didn’t take the Spartans very long to get on the board, plating the season’s initial tally in their opening at-bat. Coleman Stauffer’s opposite field double scored Dom Stilliana for a 1-0 advantage. The Raiders pulled even in the second when Bajerski singled, stole second, moved to third on an infield hit by Josh Stear and beat Travis Harvey’s throw to the plate.
South Range took the lead in the third inning when Ethan Dominguez’s opposite-field single scored Brycen James with the go-ahead run. he lead grew to 3-1 when Anthony Ritter crossed the plate on Stauffer’s errant pick-off attempt.
Boardman cut the deficit to 3-2 in the sixth inning. Stauffer led off with a single, moved to second on a groundout by Evan Knaus, advanced to third base on Alex Cardona’s ground out and motored home on Mike Melewski’s single.
The Spartans knotted the score at 3-3 in the seventh inning when Stilliana’s single brought home Harvey.
In the seventh, reliever Cameron Kreps stranded Youngs with the winning run 90 feet away.
Stauffer had three hits and his double was the only extra base hit. He scored a run and added a run batted in.
We had our opportunities, but couldn’t get the timely hit when we needed it,” Stauffer said.
Hanek was pleased with his pitchers.
“Both pitchers threw well today and I felt that Nick’s two-seamer worked really well for him, especially late in the game,” Hanek said.
Boardman head coach Joe Gabriel agreed that both teams had their opportunities.
“We had our chances, but they made more plays than us today,” Gabriel said. “We didn’t execute offensively when we needed to.”