Strongsville Uses Long Ball to Advance to Division I District Baseball Finals

The once-beaten Strongsville High baseball team took a while to get in gear in a Division I district semifinal on Friday afternoon against Westlake at Brunswick High.

 But in the end, the Mustangs live for another day on the tournament trail and will face either North Olmsted or Brunswick at 11 a.m. Saturday on their home field for the district title after pulling away for a 13-4 win over the Demons behind four RBI from Forrest Perron and threee more from Nolan Schultz.

Perron got his four RBI on a 2-run double in the third and a 2-run homer in the key fourth inning 3-run rally while Schultz hit a 3-run homer to push the Mustangs out to a 9-3 lead in the fifth.

The game, which was to be played at Strongsville until a switch moved the game due to playing conditions at Strongsville, found the Mustangs wrapped up in a 3-3 tie entering the fourth after Perron doubled home two and Nate Langhals singled home another in a 3-run second. The Demons got their three with two in the second and one the third.

Westlake, 12-14 with the loss, took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second on a  2-run double by Andrew Dunn and tied the game in the third on an RBI hit by Andy Haders

But fate was not kind to the Demons, who were outscored 10-1 the rest of the way

The unkind cut to the underdog Demons was a 2-run homer by Strongsville's Perron that gave the Mustangs a 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Nate Maurer followed with a run scoring double that pushed the Strongsville lead to 6-3 against Westlake starter Kevin Newman.

The Demons, who close the season Tuesday with a make up game with Midpark, looked to get right back in the hunt against the once-beaten Mustangs but had the rally end with a thud.

Trailing by three with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth, the Demons got a base hit down the left field line from Haders, who had earlier driven in a run in the third that had tied the game at  3-3. The hit in the fifth scored one but Schultz's throw from left nailed Westlake's Jonathan Brick at third and wiped out another run when the runner did not cross home before Brick was tagged out at third.

With the Strongsville lead at two, the Mustangs, who moved to 18-1 with the win and play at 11 a.m. Saturday at Strongsville High in the district final against either North Olmsted or Brunswick, began playing for keeps.

Brick took over for Newman and was hit with four Mustang runs, with three coming on a 3-run homer by Schultz, who in the top of the inning had stopped the Demon rally with his throw. Strongsviile added another run on a bases loaded walk to Colin Houdek for a 10-4 lead after five.

Strongsville, which was 10-0 in Northeast Ohio Conference River Division play this year, nearly claimed the game on the mercy rule in the sixth. Getting three runs off Brick and Ryan Davis with the help of a pair of errors, a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly, the Mustangs were denied the mercy rule win when Davis struck out Austin Leggett with the bases loaded and two out. Had Leggett reached safely and brought the run home from third the game would have ended right there.

"We came alive in the tournament," said Westlake coach Jeff Short. "We beat Brecksville, which won (Southwestern Conference) and beat Amherst which was seeded fifth and Avon Lake, which was seeded third. And we beat them both handily. Our reward was Strongsville," he laughed. "We played with them for four innings but they can hit and we helped them out by not making some plays," he admitted.

"From one stand point it was a tough year. We started one senior and seven juniors and a sophomore. We lost two of or best players, Steve James and Bobby Bowles for significant parts of the season. There is a difference between winning on the junior varsity level and the varsity level and it took time for some of the kids to adjust but we did."

Strongsville's Austin Pritchard went six innings but worked himself out of trouble before the Mustang bats came alive.

"We usually get a lot of ground ball outs because we have guys who can play defense, but today Westlake hit a lot of balls in the air," said Strongsville coach Josh Sorge. "Austin has been our guy all year but we need better pitching if we are going to stay in the tournament. Our hitting won for us today."
Perron pitched a scoreless seventh to nail down the Mustangs' seventh win in a row after their only loss of the season to Akron Hoban.

For Westlake, which is 5-8 in SWC play with the Midpark game left, will use that final game to reward seniors. "We will start seniors in that one," said Short. "The league is decided and it will be the last time around for our seniors."