Middlefield, OH- On Friday evening the Kirtland Hornets (5-1) and the Cardinal Huskies (3-2) clashed on the baseball diamond.
Troy Domen got the start on the bump for the Huskies. Domen struck out a pair of Hornets batters Tommy Gogolin and Tyler Turk. Luke Chucko got thumped by a Domen pitch but was caught stealing. A quiet top half of the inning. To start the bottom of the first Josh Soltis and Troy Domen both went down on strikes at the hand of Trip Thaler, who earned his first two K´s of the night. Jake Bean drew a walk, but would not advance any further as Logan Strever hit a fly ball that was caught by the right fielder Tyler Turk ending the inning as both teams left one runner on base.
Matthew Kahley hit a soft pop-up to Bean. Adam Knaack grounded out to the second baseman Trent Mooney, who threw to Jones at first recording the first two outs of the inning. Will Bates became another strikeout victim to Domen, ending the top half of the 2nd. Carter Tucker was able to reach first with a walk. Austin Jones went down on strikes, but Tucker was able to reach 3rd on an error. Jackson Puruczky grounded out, but Tucker scored and the Huskies jump out to a 1-0 lead. Trent Mooney drew the 2nd walk of the inning, but Charlie Soltis popped out ending the inning.
Trip Thaler gets the inning started with a leadoff double to center. Casey Carkhuff got plunked by Domen. With two runners on and no outs, Gino Blasini singles up the middle, moving everyone up one base. Bases loaded with nobody out and Tommy Gogolin comes through with an RBI double. Thaler scores but strong throw in by Josh Soltis in left cuts down Carkhuff trying to score the go-ahead run. With Blasini on 3rd and one out Turk hits a sac-fly scoring the runner from 3rd as Gogolin moves up one base. Kahley´s ground out ends the top of the 2nd. Josh Soltis flies out to his left field counterpart Carkhuff to start the bottom of the frame. Domen comes through after with a base hit. Bean flies out to right and Domen gets doubled off as he was caught trying to get back to first. Through 3 innings the Hornets lead 2-1.
Knaack grounds to short but a high throw from Bean pulls Jones´s foot off the bag allowing Knaack to reach safely. A soft liner from Bates is caught by Carter Tucker. Thaler then popped out to Mooney. Carkhuff reaches on a throwing error by Pururczky allows Knaack to reach 3rd, and Carkhuff behind him at 2nd. Blasini is walked, loading the bases for Gogolin who rips a bases-clearing double to left, running their lead up to 4. Chucko goes down swinging as the Huskies are able to end the inning. Logan Strever leads off with a single for the Huskies. Tucker's ground out allows Strever to advance to 2nd as the Huskies hope to spark a comeback. Jones and Puruczky both go down on strikes as the Huskies are unable to score.
Despite the score the Huskies dispatch the Hornets quickly in the top half of inning number 5. Kahley lines out to left field and Knaack grounds out to short all before the Huskies reliever Puruczky gets Bates to go down swinging. Trent Mooney and Charlie Soltis are both rung-up on strikes by Thaler. Josh Soltis smoked a double to right, but Domen´s ground ball to 3rd ends the inning.
Trip Thaler started the inning off with a grounder to short and Bean threw him out. Bean followed it up with another putout as Carkhuff grounded out to short as well. Puruczky was able to end the top of the inning by striking out Blasini. For the Huskies, Jake Bean was thrown out on a dropped 3rd strike. Logan Strever and Carter Tucker both grounded out to ending the inning.
The quiet Hornets bats would begin to buzz as they struck for 6 runs to blow it wide open. Gogolin continued to stay hot at the plate reaching on dropped 3rd strike. He later steals 2nd, but would get picked off by Puruczky. Turk singled to right and Chucko reached on an error. Turk scored on a fielders choice by Kahley. Knaack doubles which brings home Kahley. Back to back walks by Bates and Thaler load the bases before Carkhuff swings and rips a single into left scoring two. Blasini is the last straw to break as his RBI single scores Thaler and Carkhuff and the Hornets take an 11-1 lead. Gogolin goes down as Puruczky´s last strikeout of the night. The Huskies would open the bottom of the 7th with lots of ground to makeup, but Jones and Puruczky both fly out. Mooney was the last hope for Cardinal but Thaler struck him out and end the game. Kirtland wins 11-1.
Thaler went the distance for Kirtland allowing 1 run on 3 hits walking 3 batters and striking out 9 on his way to the win. Leading the Hornets offense was Gogolin who was 2/5 with 4 RBI. Carkhuff and Blasini each had 2 RBIs. Turk and Blasini were both 2/3.
Troy Domen, Josh Soltis and Logan Strever all went 1/3 and Puruczky drove in the Huskies only run.
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