Akron OH- Canal Park was the host venue between the matchup of the top 2 seeds in the D1 OHSAA Playoffs. Ryan Piech toed the rubber for the Walsh Jesuit Warriors (26-3-1) as his counterpart was Toby Hueber starting on the bump for Archbishop Moeller Crusaders (29-3).
Alex Covas stepped into the box as he led off for the Warriors. After taking strike one, he lined a single to center, giving Walsh an early baserunner. A four pitch walk was issued to Joey Canzoni, putting more traffic on the base paths for Toby Hueber. A fielders choice and two fly outs retired the Warriors in the 1st. CJ Richard reached following an error, that proved to be uncostly as Mason Eckelman would throw out Richard to record the first out of the inning. A pitcher on pitcher crime as Ryan Piech struck out his counterpart Toby Hueber. Despit issuing a two-out walk to Nathan Manley, Piech responded well by coming back and striking out Clay Burdette to end an eventful but scoreless 1st inning.
A strong 2nd inning for Huber, earning back to back strikeouts over Matthew Serdinak and Justin Bremner respectively. Raul Gamez hit into a groundout that sat the Warriors down in order. A one out walk issued to Connor Christenson does no damage as Piech worked out of it, sending a scoreless game into the 3rd.
Covas lined his second consecutive base hit into right field for a one out single. Moeller and Hueber work out of the one out single as CJ Richard made a pair of catches in center to record the final two outs of the 3rd. Carter Christenson was struck out to start the bottom of the 3rd, Richard and Hueber both retired following the strikeout.
Hueber recorded his third strikeout in the 4th as he set the Warriors down in order. Nathan Manley collected the Crusaders first base hit of the night with his leadoff triple to left.
On the next pitch Clay Burdette grounded a seeing-eye RBI single between short and third to break the scoreless tie. A sac bunt that advanced Burdette to second would become the first out of the inning. Piech would induce a fly out and ground out to end the inning, now down 1-0.
Justin Bremner worked a leadoff walk, a fast counter from Hueber as he recorded his fourth strikeout as Gamez went down looking. Covas picked up his third hit in as many at-bats with another single to center, Bremner going first to third. Joey Canzoni would be rung up by Hueber for his fifth and final strikeout of the night. Ethan Sweat led off with a base knock to lef. Carter Christenson layed down a bunt the induced a throwing error from Piech, allowing both runners to make it into scoring position. Hueber helped his own cause with an RBI sac fly to center, giving the Crusaders a two-run cushion. Manley went down swinging on strikes becoming Piech's fourth strikeout victim of the game.
Carson Marsh was called upon out of the pen to relieve starter Toby Hueber. A good first impression as he struck out Eckelman, as the defense behind him recorded the final two outs of the 6th inning. Ryan Piech opened up the bottom of the 6th with two consecutive strikeouts, backed by his third baseman Serdinak, who recorded the final out of the frame.
In hopes of a last-ditch effort to tie the game, the Warriors had things in gear as Bremner doubled with one out in the 7th.
Raul Gamez worked a walk to give Walsh the tying runner on first. A fly out to center left it up to a 3-3 Alex Covas. His groundball up the middle was fielded by Moeller shortstop Charlie Niehaus who beat Gamez to the bag at second to end the game.
Only three hits for the Archbishop Moeller Crusaders offense. Nathan Manley, Clay Burdette and Ethan Sweat all collected a base hit for Moeller. Two runs on the board provided by Toby Hueber's RBI sacrifice fly, and Clay Burdette's RBI single.
FINAL STATS:
TH: 0-2 RBI
NM: 1-2 3B R BB
CB: 1-3 RBI
ES: 1-2 R
Toby Hueber and Carson Marsh combined for a shut-out. Hueber earned the win as he worked five innings, allowing three hits and ushering a pair of walks, with five strikeouts to boot. Carson Marsh gets credited with the rare six-out save. In his two innings he allowed a walk and hit each, with one strikeout to round out his line.
FINAL LINES:
TH (W): 5IP 3H 2BB 5K
CM (S): 2 IP H BB K
Three of the four hits from the Walsh Jesuit Warriors offense came off the bat of Alex Covas, and Justin Bremner added a base hit in the 7th.
FINAL STATS:
AC: 3-4 SB
JB: 1-2 2B BB
Walsh Jesuit starter Ryan Piech worked six innings in the loss giving up three hits, two total runs (one earned) with a pair of walks and six strikeouts.
FINAL LINE:
RP (L): 6IP 3H 2R ER 2BB 6K
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