By Chris Check                                                                                                                              NE Regional Scout

OBERLIN, OH- Elyria Catholic capitalized on a big five run second inning, then coasted to a 7-4 Division III Sectional Final win over Lutheran West. The rain soaked game that was moved to Oberlin College’s new turf infield to avoid further back-up of the OHSAA tournament.

Lutheran West jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when senior right fielder Jake Pshock and freshman left fielder Josh Cales led off the game with walks and were advanced by a sacrifice bunt by senior first baseman Eric Szczpinski. Shortstop, sophomore Tim Gettinger and third baseman, senior Collin McCarty both followed with RBI singles. The longhorns had an opportunity to have a huge inning, when senior DH Derek Naim singled to load the bases with one out, but a strikeout and a line out ended the threat.

The Longhorns threatened again in the top of the second inning but failed to capitalize on a double by Pshock, a walk to Cales, and a single to Szczpinski.

Elyria Catholic got its offense going in the bottom of the second inning using a hit batsman, the first of three hits by senior left fielder Brian Mahilo, two errors and a big two out line drive single by senior shortstop Lukas Redmond. The Longhorns got out of the mess when Panther starting pitcher lined out to short, who doubled Redmond off second.

The Panthers of Elyria Catholic added a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings on an RBI single by senior second baseman, Christian Stanzio, and an RBI double by sophomore right fielder Sean Darmafall. Darmafall got thrown out at home trying to score on Stanzio’s second hit of the game on a nice throw home by right fielder Pshock.

Lutheran had on last rally in the seventh inning as Cales, Szczpinski, and Gettinger all walked to lead off the inning. Cales and Szczpinski eventually scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball. Sean Darmafall came in from the outfield to record three strikeouts to end the game and get the save for Elyria Catholic.

Elyria Catholic advances to this week’s district play at Cuyahoga Community College Wednesday with a record of 17-10. Winning pitcher Joey Begany moves to 7-3 on the year.

Lutheran West ends their season at 12-9.

To view scouting notes from this game, please visit the Ohio High School Scouting Blog. The blog gets updated throughout the week.

To discuss this game, please visit our partner JJHuddle.

Linescore

Lutheran West   200  000  2 - 4  6  1

Elyria Catholic  050  011  x - 7  9  0

Records: Elyria Catholic 17-10, Lutheran West 12-9.

Winning pitcher: Begany (6 innings, 2 run, 6 hits, 1 strikeout, 6 walks, 0 HBP). Others: Cruz, Darmafall.

Losing pitcher: Kunze (6 innings, 7 runs, 8 hits, 5 strikeouts, 6 walks, 2 HBP).

Leading hitters: (Lutheran West) - Pshock, double; Szczpinski 2 singles; Gettinger single; McCarty single; Naim single. (Elyria Catholic) - Redmond single; Darmafall single, double; Mahilo 3 singles; Stanzio 2 singles.