The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Sailors’ fifth inning rally keys win over Falcons
Five Vermilion hitters record RBI hit during fifth-inning rally
Sometimes in baseball the pitcher just doesn’t have it for an inning.
If you’re lucky, when that happens you offense will be right there to pick you up.
That’s what happened for Vermilion in a non-conference win over Firelands. The 11-2 win reclaims the Stillman Cup, the rivalry trophy fought for by the two schools in multiple sports.
“We knew Firelands would answer, they’re a good baseball team,” Vermilion head coach Jeff Keck said. “We were able to have that big inning and fortunately it was enough for us to come out on top today. It was a good win.”
Sailors’ starter Cody Shultz was on the money for the first three innings against the Firelands lineup.
Shultz struck out two, and gave up a pair of singles that resulted in nothing for the Falcons before the fourth inning.
That’s when Shultz fell into some trouble.
The senior got leadoff man Caden Bomback to fly out to right before three straight walks to the Falcons three, four and five hitters loaded the bases.
That brought Evan Zidar to the plate with a chance to do some damage.
Instead of swinging for the fences, Zidar laid down a perfect suicide squeeze that ended in both himself and Aaron Urban being safe.
Zidar was then picked off, but the Falcons drew another walk to load the bases again. Garrett Varndell was then hit by a pitch scoring another run and tying the game.
That’s all the damage that Firelands could manage however as they left the bases loaded after a flyout to end the inning. For head coach Dan Ransom that was a common theme throughout the day.
“Games like this we have to learn from and then just look forward and come out better the next time,” Ransom said. “We came out flat and it looked like we were just going through the motions.”
Vermilion’s offense responded with an impressive inning of their own, putting up a nine spot in the fifth inning.
The Sailors’ batted around thanks to a pair of walks, two errors and six hits. Five different hitters picked up RBI in the inning including Shultz who ripped a pitch right back up the middle scoring two.
“Our guys do a good job of just staying focused,” Keck said. “I tell our guys to take it just one game at a time and not worry about who you’re facing as much as focusing on yourself. If you’re fielding and hitting the ball and doing all of the things you can take care of it doesn’t matter.”
Jack Wells, Jacob Krausher and Ethan Hendrickson all tallied hits and RBI in the inning.
Picking up the win for Vermilion was Carter Klausing, who entered for Shultz in the fourth. Klausing now sits at 2-1 on the season, while his team is 6-3.
The loss sends Firelands to 6-3, with Lorain County League games coming up on the schedule. The Falcons take on Oberlin, Wellington and Columbia all in the next week, before a pair of non-league games.
Firelands faces a tough non-conference schedule with teams like Vermilion, St. Edward and Avon Lake. For Ransom that’s all about making sure his guys are ready come tournament time.
“We play a tough nonconference schedule so we’re ready for the tournament,” he said. “We’ve got some things that we can learn from. Some baserunning blunders that hopefully won’t happen again and we just have to go and learn from what we saw out there today.”