The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Eagles avenge earlier loss to Comets
Win ties Avon with Amherst atop the SWC
Avon has finally gotten the monkey off its back.
After two straight losses to Amherst, including last season’s district championship thriller and this season’s pitcher’s duel on April 12. The Eagles (17-3, 13-2 SWC) finally came out on top as they defeated the Comets (19-5, 14-2 SWC), 4-2, in a Southwestern Conference matchup at Sprenger Stadium on May 3.
The heavyweight clash pitted the No. 1 and No. 2 in The Top of the Crop rankings with Southwestern Conference title ramifications hanging in the balance. The win means both teams are tied for first place, keeping Avon’s SWC hopes alive, while putting Amherst’s title hopes on hold for now.
Eagles coach Frank Desmit knew his team was excited to get another shot at Amherst
but insists that it is focused on the big picture.
“Well, you don’t want to sound too much like an old grumpy coach, but it’s just one of the conference games this week. We still have to play Berea tomorrow. They knocked these guys off and Berea has been playing pretty well,” Desmit said. “But we definitely wanted to win the game because Amherst is one of the best teams in the state.”
Unlike their previous matchup, Avon broke through early as the Eagles loaded the bases after a walk in the bottom of the second inning. Avon senior Ethan St. Clair came through with a two-out big hit and found himself with extra bases after the Amherst left fielder dived for the ball and missed it, resulting in a three-run double for St. Clair.
He finished 2-for-3, with a double, triple and three RBI.
“Yeah, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, he made a good effort for it but it just kind of got by him,” St. Clair said.
The decision to dive for the ball was a costly one and Desmit hopes his boys were paying close attention to their opponents.
“We got lucky there on the misplay their guy had. It was nice because it gave me an example to drive home to my guys. We talked before the game the idea that we don’t need to go out and try and make extraordinary plays, we just need to make all the routine plays,” Desmit said. “In a situation there I know what he’s thinking. He’s trying to just keep us off the board, but instead of giving us one run, he ends up giving us three and it obviously cost them.”
Avon capped off its second inning with a Matt Kelly RBI double, scoring St. Clair.
Avon senior pitcher Shane Docherty (5-0) was hitting his spots on the mound and playing confident with the early run support.
“It took a lot off my shoulders and I knew our bats were going to get fired up some time,” Docherty said.
He went five innings while allowing one run off five hits and striking out six with three walks.
Docherty admitted he was pumped up a little bit more than normal for this one.
“I was ready when I woke up this morning. I knew I had to come out and throw strikes and let my defense play,” Docherty said.
On the other side, Amherst junior Evan Shawver (2-3) was having a tough time replicating his nearly unhittable performance in their previous meeting. He struggled with command of his pitches but still managed to tally six strikeouts, while allowing four hits and three walks.
“I thought he pitched well. They were able to foul some pitches off and run his pitch count up a little bit, but I thought he was fine,” Amherst coach Matt Rositano said.
Rositano said the second inning trouble was the difference in an otherwise close game.
“Like I just told the guys, when you have two really good teams playing, it’s the team that makes the fewest mistakes that comes out on top. In that one inning, we should have gotten a lead runner at second and didn’t make the play. That error led to four unearned runs and that was the difference in the game,” Rositano said.
Amherst tried to rally as Kyle Mantin’s RBI single in the fifth cut the lead to 4-1.
Reliever William Laurendeau wrapped up the game for the Eagles.
Laurendeau’s solid effort under pressure was just what Desmit was looking for to build some confidence for the junior.
“We have been trying to give him a little bit more high pressure situations and build his confidence up for these type of situations,” Desmit said. “Will has been coming on. He has struggled a little bit with his control early in the year. He is a guy that has a lot of moving parts when he is throwing. Mechanically, when he is doing things he supposed to, he can bring the ball up there pretty good.”
Amherst and Avon look forward to finishing out their respective SWC schedules strong as they keep their eyes locked in on a conference title.
“It’s a tough conference. We’ve got work to do tomorrow and were going to focus on that at this point. We have three tough games left,” Desmit said.
“There is still more baseball to be played. We talked about it in practice yesterday that if we didn’t come out on top today, we were still tied for the conference lead with two games to play and two games to win,” Rositano said.
The SWC race heats up as Avon travels to Berea-Midpark, while Amherst hosts Westlake on May 4.