The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
No-no for Gilmour ace
DeMell throws no-hitter as Lancers defeat Division III contender South Range
It seems almost hard to believe, but Gilmour senior ace Ben DeMell had never thrown a no-hitter in his high school career going into the Prep Baseball Report Classic at Gilmour on May 8.
The Penn State-bound standout can cross that off his to-do list.
DeMell twirled a no-hitter in the Lancers’ 4-2 win over visiting Division III power South Range in the middle game of the three-game showcase, striking out nine and walking one.
St. Edward defeated Brunswick, 8-4, in the opener, and Solon topped Chagrin Falls, 5-3, in the final contest.
Gilmour (13-7) didn’t have its greatest game defensively, committing five errors, leading to the two runs for the Raiders. But the Lancers did enough on offense, and rode the stellar 104-pitch effort of their ace and senior leader to victory.
“It’s actually my first one,” DeMell said. “(Credit to) Coach Seaver, and all the coaches. Vinny (Bandwen) called a great game behind the plate.
“My changeup and slider are my go-to pitches, and I was really locating them well.”
Fans were treated to a pitching duel between DeMell and South Range sophomore Billy Skirpac through the first three innings, as the two combined for 11 strikeouts.
Gilmour sophomore Will Kay recorded the game’s first hit with a single to lead off the bottom of the third, but he was picked off of first base on a headsup throw by South Range’s Ohio State-bound catcher Trey Pancake.
The Raiders took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a walk and a pair of Lancers errors, although DeMell notched three more strikeouts.
Perhaps wishing to preserve Skirpac for league games next week, South Range (14-7) removed him in the fourth inning. It took Gilmour until the fifth to capitalize, but the four runs the Lancers put up in that frame were all they needed with DeMell working his magic on the mound.
A RBI single by Kay, who had two of Gilmour’s three hits, and two-run single by Mick Hopkins, who had the other, highlighted the Lancers’ big fifth.
“We had a couple walks, and I had a couple hits to help get us going offensively,” Kay said. “They switched pitchers, which was pretty nice since we were struggling with the first guy.”
DeMell set the Raiders down in order in both the fifth and sixth innings, but the Raiders took advantage of two more Lancers errors and pushed a run across on a sacrifice fly by Skirpac. DeMell induced a groundout with one runner on base to end it and finish off his gem.
“It’s sad that he’s a senior, but the contributions Ben has made to this program over the years have been incredible,” Gilmour coach Jay Murphy said. “He’s out all-time leader in strikeouts. He had nine today, which gets him up to 211. He really battled today. Pitching a no-hitter against a team like South Range is incredible.
“On top of that, we committed four or five errors, so he really pitched (essentially) a nine-inning no-hitter today.”
Gilmour has won 10 of its last 12 games, and has been voted the No. 5 seed in its 24-team Division III Northeast super district.
“We’re at a good point in our schedule right now where our pitching rotation is set,” Murphy said. “We can go six deep. We’ve got guys that can throw behind Ben. It’s going to be fun to see as we go through the playoffs how well these guys respond.”
Solon 5, Chagrin Falls 3
Chagrin Falls made it interesting with a three-run home run by Andrew Kirkpatrick in the seventh inning, but the Tigers fell to Solon, 5-3, in the nightcap of the Prep Baseball Report Classic at Gilmour.
Solon freshman Harley Barmen held Chagrin Falls to two hits and four walks through six innings, before the Tigers rallied with a hit batsman, double, and homer against him in the seventh. Zach Gottlieb got the final two outs to earn a save for the Comets.
Chagrin Falls coach Mike Sweeney would have liked to have seen a more aggressive approach from his hitters from the beginning.
“Too many walks early on, and we just kind of lost our energy, got down a little bit,” Sweeney said. “We picked it back up in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. We had some good at-bats, were more aggressive, and then obviously in the seventh put some runs on the board.
“We didn’t do that in the first four innings. We just weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be.”
Barmen, who finished with four walks and four strikeouts, didn’t allow a hit through the first four innings. He helped his own cause with two hits and two RBI. Senior Pat McQuaide had a two-run single and made several nice plays in center field for the Comets, who improved to 10-12.
Solon tallied three runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth to stake Barmen to a 5-0 lead.
“Nothing he does surprises us anymore,” Solon coach Damien Kopkas said of Barmen. “We’ve seen some great moments from him this year, and we knew that in this atmosphere against a phenomenal team like Chagrin Falls, that (the moment) wouldn’t be too much for him.”
The loss drops Chagrin Falls, ranked No.1 in the News-Herald Top of the Crop, to 17-3 for the season. The Tigers beat Solon on April 23, 7-2. Charlie Greenlief and Jack McMullen stroked doubles, and McMullen pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning in relief.
Kirkpatrick’s one-out, three-run shot over the right-field fence in the seventh gave Chagrin Falls a chance, but the Tigers left McMullen stranded at second after his ensuing double.
“Playing (Solon) certainly makes us better,” Sweeney said. “Next week we have St. Ignatius and Mayfield, so that certainly should get us ready for the tournament. We just need to be more aggressive from the beginning of the game with the bats.”
Chagrin Falls, which holds an edge over Hawken for first place in the CVC Chagrin Division, will play a two-game home-andaway series with Lakeside on May 10 and 11 before battling Division I powers St. Ignatius and Mayfield later next week.