The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Elyria Catholic hammers Bay, 11-1
Talk about a huge inning. The Elyria Catholic baseball team scored 10 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat Bay, 11-1, on May 2 at Oberlin College.
It was tied at one apiece heading into the sixth before the Panthers’ bats woke up. Ryan Strittmather started the inning with a leadoff single, and later reached third base on an error. The next batter, Colden Schemmel reached base on an error, which also scored Strittmather to make it, 2-1. Freshman Leighton Banjoff then ripped an RBI double, and moments later came home on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 4-1.
Sean Darmafall, Tony LoParo and Strittmather followed with consecutive RBI hits, and then Banjoff laced a three-run triple for his second hit of the inning to put the game away, 11-1.
“Banjoff has been so hot the last few weeks,” Elyria Catholic coach Bruce Lisicky said. “And I was contemplating bunting him. But I knew how hot he is and their outfield was playing in. He got the fastball we wanted him to get.”
Bay got on the board in the top of the third, thanks to an RBI single from Kyle Thompson.
Bay starter Mark Fisher was in a groove, shutting down the Panthers’ bats until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Banjoff led off with a walk, Grant McClure drew a walk moments later, and Darmafall hit a ball in the infield and beat out a throw to first, which also scored Banjoff to even it at 1-1. That proved to jump start the Panthers’ big sixth inning.
“Darmafall was down 0-2 in the count, and we tell the guys that with two strikes, put the ball in play,” Lisicky added. “With his speed, that’s all he has to do, is hit the ball on the ground and beat it out. That was key, because Fisher was shutting us down the whole game and we wanted to be a little more patient to get his pitch count up, because we were swinging at some bad pitches.”
“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” said Darmafall, who finished with three RBI. “I knew I had a player on base, and if I did, good things would happen. I think Fisher started getting tired. He threw around 120 pitches I think. The sixth inning was pretty amazing and we did it all with two outs against a pitcher like that.”
EC star t er Aaron Vazquez was strong, pitching 4 2/3 innings, giving up three hits and one run. Freshman Jack Laird came in relief and pitched the final 1 1/3 to pick up his fourth win of the year. Elyria Catholic is 16-4 overall and 9-0 in the conference.
“With our pitchers, we don’t walk a lot of guys,” Lisicky said. “We throw strikes and try to get ahead in the count. We think we have one of the best defenses that I’ve coached in five years. We want our pitchers to throw strikes, put the ball in play and let our guys make plays on defense. We got our No. 1 going tomorrow (against Bay), Andrew Abrahamowicz, and this was key to take control of this conference, because Bay had only two losses and we didn’t have any. It’s big for us to have a three-game lead with three conference games to go.”
Banjoff led the Panthers’ offense with a pair of hits, one walk and four RBI.
“I think we were communicating and seeing the ball better, not having butterflies in our stomach,” he said. “It was big and couldn’t have asked for anything better. We’re being happy together, having fun and playing baseball like we know we can and getting those big at-bats.”
Bay dropped to 9-4 and 5-3 in the conference.
“I think our pitcher started getting up in the zone, and that was the batters’ fourth time through,” Bay coach Ben Boka said. “And eventually you’re going to time up a fastball pitcher. He was getting his curveball over maybe 50 percent of the time, and when it becomes kind of predictable, teams will catch up to it eventually. They showed us why they have the record they have,
“It’s a game of who can take advantage of mistakes and opportunities, and we had our chances. We needed a big two-out hit and it could have been a different story. Hopefully tomorrow, we can comeback and do it. It’s good to face them right away and try to get after it.”
Boka added that playing in these types of games will benefit his team for the tournament.
“I think competing in mentally challenging games, that’s the best practice we can get,” he said. “Learning to compete in tough moments and situations, and that would be the best thing for us. We have to find a way to become successful out of those situations.”
“We think we have one of the best defenses that I’ve coached in five years. We want our pitchers to throw strikes, put the ball in play and let our guys make plays on defense.”
—Elyria Catholic coach Bruce Lisicky