The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Panthers’ streak ended
Elyria Catholic falls to St. Ignatius, gains experience for postseason
Elyria Catholic had its ninegame winning streak snapped by St. Ignatius April 25 when the Panthers lost, 9-3, in a nonconference game at Baldwin Wallace.
The first nine hitters were sat down in order and when they
managed to make contact, the Panthers struggled to find any gaps in the St. Ignatius defense. Five of the first nine hitters flew out deep into the outfield and Elyria Catholic (9-3) produced a mere four hits all game.
“We hit probably four or five
balls on the nose, but they were right at guys and, you know, if you get it in the gap or get a little top spin, it’s a whole different thing,” Panthers coach Bruce Lisicky said.
St. Ignatius led off the game with back-to-back singles and scored early, thanks to a couple of fielding errors.
By the third inning, the Wildcats led, 4-0, with only two earned runs and built the lead each inning the rest of the game, going scoreless only in the second.
Frustrations mounted as the St. Ignatius hitters did everything the Panthers couldn’t. The
Wildcats tallied 12 hits for the game, including three extra base hits, but considering their 10 stranded runners, the damage could have been much worse.
“We made one or two errors early on and gave (St. Ignatius) a couple runs that way and all of a sudden you’re down 4-0 instead of 1-0,” Lisicky said.
“It’s a whole different ball game.
“We’ve been playing good defense all year. We’ve been priding ourselves on that, then we get on a turf field and we’re not expecting to make those kind of errors. Then you make an error, you try making up for it then another error results in it. We probably should’ve ate the ball once or twice and then runners advanced.”
Leighton Banjoff had two of Elyria Catholic’s four total hits capped off by a seventh-inning RBI double
down the left field line.
The junior went 2-for-4 while Gavan Hrobat went 1-for-2 with an RBI and Daniel Peacock went 1-for-2 with a walk and a pair of stolen bases.
“This is a big park. I mean, 375 (feet) in the gaps. It just wasn’t falling for us,” Banjoff said. “There were mental errors, not making plays out there that we just got to clean up.”
The loss isn’t discouraging the Panthers, however.
According to Lisicky, there are a lot of lessons to be taken from getting beaten by a good team like St. Ignatius, especially as the postseason looms.
“We lost to two good teams early on, Amherst and Elyria. then we won nine straight games and we expect to go on a nice run here,” Lisicky said.
“It’s nice to play a team like Ignatius to kind of see where you’re at and at least the kids get the experience so when we get in the tournament ... we’ll be a little bit more prepared.”