By Matthew Lee

In the 2^nd semi-final game in Canton at Thurman Munson Stadium, Lake faced off against North Canton Hoover.

With the teams splitting their series during the regular season, a district final berth and bragging rights were on the line.

In the bottom of the first, Hoover came out swinging against senior Wes Kemp. Senior Eric LePage led off with a double over the left fielder’s head. After a fly out to left, sophomore Will Haueter burned the left fielder for a double that drove in LePage.  Senior Ryan Sarbaugh singled to drive in Haueter and put Hoover up 2-0.

Lake got their first hit off of junior lefty Drew Vargo in the top of the 2^nd as sophomore Matt Blasiole lined a one-out double. After Kemp flew to left, junior Kyle Crites singled to make it a 2-1 game.

In the top of the 3^rd, Lake used three consecutive singles by junior Zach Gazdacko, senior Jarrod Daugherty, and an RBI single by senior Justin Wagler (Kent State recruit) to tie the game at 2 apiece.

In the bottom of the 4^th, Hoover ran into more trouble.

Senior Connor Jarvis led off with a single and was sacrificed to second base.  Sophomore Joey Jackson was hit by a pitch and junior Dom Iero walked to load the bases. Haueter then drew a bases loaded walk to force in Jarvis.  Sarbaugh followed with a single to knock in two more and make the game 5-2.

Lake made a pitching change to bring in Wagler, but the future Golden Flash couldn’t end the Hoover attack as senior Austin Appleby (Purdue football recruit) welcomed him with a double to drive in another run and put Hoover up 6-2.

In the top of the 6^th, Lake was able to cut into that lead. Wagler led off with a single and junior catcher, Andrew Swan walked. Hoover changed pitchers to bring in senior Jeff Hite. Blasiole hit an RBI double. After two ground outs brought in two more runs, the score inched closer to 6-5 in Hoover’s favor.

Trailing 6-5 in the top of the 7^th, Lake approached their final outs of the season.

Not willing to back down, freshman Damian Maglione led off with a single. Daugherty drew a walk and then Wagler smoked a double down the left field line to put Lake up 7-6.

In the bottom of the 7^th, junior Austin Feinberg led off with a walk. Jarvis then bunted but Wagler was able to get the force out at 2^nd.  Sophomore Alex Binnie struck out for the 2^nd out. Jackson then hit a routine fly ball to right field, but Blasiole dropped it and allowed Jarvis to score from 1^st base to tie the score at 7-7.

The game stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Jarvis doubled to right field. Binnie followed with a triple to the gap in right center to score Jarvis and finally put Hoover over the top with an 8-7 win.

Hoover will face Perry in the championship game. Perry defeated Jackson 5-3 in the early game.