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Boardman uses big inning to drop Poland
By Greg Gulas
STRUTHERS
Nick Augustine fell one out shy of a complete game and Evan Knaus added two doubles and two RBIs as Boardman beat Poland in an All-American Conference Red Tier game Tuesday at Bob Cene Park.
It was the fifth win in the last seven contests for the Spartans (12-11, 4-3), who enter next week’s Division I sectional tournament as the third seed.
The unusually cold weather at game time didn’t seem to bother the Boardman mound ace.
“I pitch the same way and don’t really change anything because of the weather. I keep the same mindset and just try to pitch my game,” Augustine said. “Today, I felt like I had good command of my pitches and was able to hit my spots. Coach [Joe Gabriel] calls the game and I agree with his calls. Most of the time, however, I know what he’s going to call even before he calls it. Plus, Coleman [Stauffer] did an excellent job behind the plate.”
Poland (13-5, 6-3) took a 2-0 advantage in the opening inning with Tony Chiaro’s sacrifice fly the key blow in the frame.
They extended their lead to 3-0 in the second inning on Braeden O’Shaughnessy’s run-scoring single.
The momentum shifted and the complexion of the game changed in the third frame though, as Boardman sent 11 batters to the plate, scored seven times for a 7-3 lead that they would not relinquish.
Knaus’ two-run double, an RBI double by Luke Cardillo and run scoring singles by both Bobby Mackovick and Mike Fetsko were the key blows.
Cardillo and Alex Cardona each finished with two hits and an r.b.i.
“Poland has always been one of our top rivals and they’re a good team, so this is a big in for us today,” Knaus said. “We had a rough start, but had a nice third inning and that really boosted out confidence. You could tell in the dugout that our mindset flipped because we were a different team after that. Also, Nick lit it up today and pitched an excellent game.”
The Spartans added three runs in the sixth inning for a 10-3 margin with Cardona’s run-scoring single and a Stauffer’s sacrifice fly keying the offense.
“When we were down 3-0, I knew that we had to kick it into gear and fast. We started off a little slow and while we have been looking to pick it up offensively over the past few games, tonight we were able to do that, especially in the third inning,” Spartans head coach Joe Gabriel said. “There are always things that you can work on, especially as you head into tournament play but I do think we’re finishing strong and can build on how we’ve playing of late.”
The Bulldogs made things interesting in the seventh inning, scoring three times to cut the lead to 10-6, the first run coming on Pad O’Shaughnessy’s RBI single and the other two tallies on Dan Klase’s two-run double; his second of the game.
“That seven run, third inning took us out of the game,” Bulldogs head coach Rich Murray said. “We won’t have much time to rest because it’s right back at it with them on Wednesday.”
Klase finished with three runs batted for the Bulldogs while Braden Olson, Pad O’Shaughnessy and Don Drummond also added two hits for Poland.