As far as Saint Ignatius junior first baseman Mike Horejsei is concerned, you have to tip your cap to Wildcats captains Dave Gallagher, Kevin Hopkins and Jack McLinden, and the other senior leaders, for the success the team is enjoying.
While there is no questioning the seniors' ability to show the way, Horejsei and the rest of the new faces in blue and gold this spring are following that lead to a T.
Thursday afternoon, or make that Thursday night by the time the game ended, Saint Ignatius, behind Horejsei's one-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning, turned back a determined Twinsburg club, 11-10, on Talty Field in the Brookside Reservation.
Horejsei's clutch hit, his third RBI on the day, was preceded by a hustle double by junior outfielder Joe Greco and an intentional walk to Hopkins. The single through the right side scored McLinden, who was pinch-running for Greco.
“When I came up, I just wanted to try and make contact, get the runner over and get (Mike) Burke to come up and do a job,” Horejsei said of his game-winner, which came off a 1-2 count. “After I saw my first pitch, right down the middle, I knew right there I wasn't going to see another one. I got lucky. I got the bat out there just in time.”
Make that a moment in time, as Horejsei, in his first year with the varsity, was mobbed by his teammates.
“We used every single guy on the team, except for a couple of pitchers.” said Wildcats head coach Brad Ganor, after his team improved to 13-1 and extended its winning streak to seven games. “It was a collective win. If you look at the box score, we didn't pitch very well. But we got timely hitting, big hits when we needed them. Mike Burke and Dave Gallagher got big hits and what can you say about Mike Horejsei and Joe Greco with the great job with that double? He hustled into second base when he could have pulled up (at first).
“I just think collectively it was a great effort. The box score won't look pretty, but it was an exciting win for us, nice to come away with.”
In a game that matched the fifth (Twinsburg) - and 12th-ranked teams in the coaches' Division I state poll, Twinsburg took advantage of a huge two-base throwing error – a mistake that came off a swinging third strike that should have ended the top of the third inning – and went on to take a 3-0 lead. The key hits for the Tigers (12-3) were RBI singles by senior first baseman Frank Dufour and senior center fielder Darius Washington, and a run-scoring triple by junior catcher Zak Laubscher.
Saint Ignatius answered with two runs in the bottom of the third, as Hopkins delivered a run-scoring single to left field, advanced to third on an errant pick-off attempt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Horejsei.
After Gallagher, the 'Cats' standout middle infielder, led off the bottom of the fourth with the second of his three hits, a scary moment took place when a slashing foul ball rocketed through the opening in the Saint Ignatius dugout and struck Wildcats gifted senior center fielder Kory Gillissie in the left side of his head.
Kory was knocked to the ground and suffered a cut to his head. After being attended to in the dugout, Kory got back on his feet, insisted he was okay and went with his parents to a nearby hospital for further treatment.
After senior second baseman Zach Seybert tied the score with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, Hopkins moved from left field to center field and Greco took over in left field.
The see-saw battle continued with Twinsburg, courtesy of a two-run single by Washington, taking a 5-3 lead in the top of the fifth. The Wildcats answered with four runs in the bottom of the fifth – a bases-loaded two-run double by Gallagher and a two-run single up the middle by junior right fielder/relief pitcher Neal Jacobs off an 0-2 pitch.
Just when Saint Ignatius appeared to have the momentum, coach Don Jones' Tigers responded with four runs in the top of the sixth. The big blow was a two-run single by Dufour.
Displaying the resiliency one expects from a successful program, the Wildcats regained the lead by scoring three times in the bottom of the sixth. It was a case of big-time two-out hitting as Horejsei came up with an RBI double and Burke, who entered the game with a team-leading .465 batting average and a team-best 17 RBI, sent Mr. Rawlings soaring over the left-field fence for a two-run home run and a 10-9 Saint Ignatius lead.
“Before my home run at-bat, I just felt kind of weird all game,'' said Burke, a senior infielder and a two-year mainstay for Coach Ganor. “I didn't feel like I was playing to the best of my ability. But I'm just glad I cleared my mind for that at-bat and helped this team, because I love these guys.”
Burke revealed that before the game, Wildcats assistant coach Frank Russo told him he would never “put one out” of spacious Talty Field.
“So I just had to prove him wrong,” Burke said. “He kind of lit a fire under my butt and motivated me, and I was happy I could contribute to the team.”
Twinsburg made the Wildcats work overtime by tying the score in the top of the seventh, However, after a strong top of the eighth by 'Cats junior reliever Cory Finkler, Greco and Horejsei worked their clutch magic.
Saint Ignatius' starting pitcher, sophomore left-hander Zak Shockley, worked 4 1/3 innings, scattering seven hits, striking out eight and walking two. Of the five runs attributed to him, only two were earned.
Finkler, who also is a catcher, picked up his first victory on the varsity level. He yielded one run, one hit, struck out four and walked one in 2 2/3 innings.
The Wildcats will have little time to savor the victory as they take on a hard-hitting Avon Lake lineup on Friday in Progressive Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Senior right-hander Brian Lehto (1-0) will get the starting assignment.