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Third time charm as Edgewood gets past Champion
By STEVE RUMAN
NILES
The third time proved to be the charm for the Edgewood High baseball team.
As a result, the Warriors are headed to the regionals of the Ohio High School Athletic Association tournament.
After losing to Champion twice during the regular season, Edgewood defeated the Golden Flashes 10-5 Wednesday in the Niles Division III District final at Wilder Field.
Edgewood (14-8) will face Canton Central Catholic in a regional semifinal game next Thursday at Massillon Washington High School.
“This is an unbelievable feeling, I don’t know what to say, I’m just shocked,” said Edgewood senior Chris Morici. “We’ve been down for a little bit as a program, to come back like this and get this far, I think it’s a huge step forward for our team and our program.”
The huge step forward can be credited in large part to a huge swing of the bat from Morici. With the game tied at 5 in the top of the fifth inning, Morici belted a grand slam home run to right field, and the Warriors never looked back.
“I just went up there looking to hit the ball hard, put it in play and make them make a play,” Morici said. “I made good contact. I got lucky. I just couldn’t believe it, right when I left the batters box I knew it was out. That was crazy.”
Oddly enough, Edgewood’s five-run fifth inning negated a five-run third inning from Champion which also featured a grand slam.
Trailing 3-0, the Golden Flashes (14-5) benefited from an RBI single off the bat of Nolan Yartz to score their first run of the game. A walk and a single loaded the bases for Abe Bayus, who belted a home run over the 12-foot wall in right-center.
However, from that point on Champion was limited to just a pair of hits.
“It hurts, it’s always tough to lose a tournament game, but the biggest thing is having to say good-bye to our three seniors [Andrew Russell, Matt Horvat, Yartz],” said Champion coach Rick Yauger. “These guys have helped bring this program to a new level. They have been nothing but class, win or lose.”
“This was a good game against two really good teams. Edgewood made the majority of the routine plays they had to make. We didn’t play a really clean game. It’s always tough to beat a team three times in any given season, especially a team as good as them.”
Yauger said that despite the setback, he was pleased with his team’s performance throughout the season.
“We started four sophomores and a freshman,” Yauger said. “Our goal was to compete for a league title and play for a district title, and we did just that. I’m extremely proud of this group.”