From the Trojans' sun-drenched Danko Field at St. Monica
Garfield Heights, Ohio - The Baseball Cats of highly successful Head Coach Brad Ganor couldn't have asked for a better game to prepare them for Tuesday's 5 PM OHSAA Division I Sectional Final versus the Garfield Heights Bulldogs on Baldwin Wallace University's Fisher Field.
Coach Randy Rundgren's Trinity Trojans were as advertised in our weekly Diamond Dust Preview.
In what was a regular-season matchup of two No. 1 seeds, now 13-7 Saint Ignatius at the OHSAA Division 1 Strongsville Sectional/District and currently 17-3 Trinity at the OHSAA Division IV Fairport Harbor District, the Wildcats and the Trojans battled through five scoreless innings.
"They're a heck of a team," Coach Ganor said of Trinity, which recently wrapped up its third consecutive North Coast League Divisional Championship. "It's no wonder they have the record they do and the expectations they do. I thought they were scrappy and talented. I will be shocked if they don't make some serious noise in the tournament."
The Wildcats made what turned out to be all the noise they needed offensively by scoring two runs in the top of the sixth inning on Monday evening.
With one out in the top of the sixth, versatile junior Austin Jones came up with an infield hit. Gifted junior outfielder Luke Cooper then pinch ran and raced to second on a pitch in the dirt.
After senior right fielder Jack Eyink laced a single to right-center field, senior designated hitter JJ Conway, who can analyze a game better than some major league broadcasters, delivered an impressive two-run double to the gap in left-center field.
"I got the count to 3-2, which I like to hit in a lot of those counts because I don't swing at bad pitches," said JJ. "I saw five pitches before so I thought I was really on time. He gave me a fastball down the middle and I just did what I could with it and get the runs home.
"I think our defense is superb this year and our offense can hit when it needs to," JJ responded when this corner asked him what it would take for the Wildcats to be at Huntington Park in Columbus for the May 31st through June 2 OHSAA Baseball State Tournament. "With our pitching, if we continue throwing strikes that will be the key to making a far run. Keeping those walks to a minimum and letting our defense play. We're going to ride the pitching as far as it can take us."
Both of the respective pitching staffs were solid on an evening when Trinity's Baseball Program and its faithful acknowledged their Seniors.
The Trojans made it a 2-1 game in the bottom of the sixth after they loaded the bases with one out on two hit batsmen and a walk.
Another base on balls, this time drawn by senior catcher John Oleksik, had the Trinity fans on their feet.
It was at that point, Saint Ignatius flashed its been there and done that credentials.
With junior relief pitcher Matt Ferritto, who moved to the mound from third base, displaying his calm big-game composure, the next two Trojans went down off a strikeout and a 1-3 putout.
After the Wildcats were retired in order in the top of the seventh, Jack Eyink, a University of Cincinnati baseball recruit who can also handle right field like he was born there, took the mound and came up with three overpowering strikeouts to earn the save. The last K game-ender, which included some nice glove work by senior catcher and co-Captain Drew Asadorian, came with two Trojans aboard.
"Matt Geraci pitched a great game, he got us into the sixth inning and gave us a chance to win," Coach Ganor said of his junior starter, who threw 5 and 1/3 innings and yielded three hits. "Matt Ferritto got us out of that jam by shutting the door and Jack Eyink just slammed it. It was a great all-around job."
That job continues today (Tuesday) at 5 PM in the Sectional Final versus the Garfield Heights Bulldogs at Baldwin Wallace University.
The ninth-seeded Bulldogs advanced to face the top-seeded Wildcats by defeating the eighth-seeded Rhodes Rams, 7-4, in a Sectional Semifinal at historic League Park on Monday evening. It was described as an all-around solid game by the Bulldogs fans I have come to know through my Plain Dealer decades, one that has encouraged the Baseball 'Dawgs to stick with their blue gray and gold caps uniforms
We will see you at Fisher Field today for step one in the journey to Huntington Park.