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Tri-Valley baseball stymies Big Red
DRESDEN — Tri-Valley’s wealth of arms have been the team’s hallmark this season, even as its bats have often been a hit-or-miss proposition.
The Scotties saved one of their best performances for the perfect time on Tuesday.
Ace starter Landon Harney and hard-throwing reliever Brady Kaufman combined on a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts. They got more than enough support from an offense that scored six times in the second inning as Tri-Valley rolled to a 9-2 win against Steubenville in a Division II sectional final at Kenny Wolford Park.
Ashton Sensibaugh and Bennet Baker, the team’s second and third hitters in the order, respectively, combined for five of the Scotties’ 13 hits.
Baker’s third hit was his loudest — a mammoth two-run homer to right field in the sixth inning to extended a 6-2 lead. Normally an opposite-field hitter from the left side, he finally took a pull-hitting approach for the first homer of his high school career.
He has more than .400 on the season and is 4-0 on the mound, but this was one of the clear highlights.
“I told him, ‘you’ve built yourself up (physically) to be able to do this, just one time I’d like to see you pull those hands in there and yank one,'” Tri-Valley coach Marc Hadley said of his conversations with Baker. “He finally did it. He went out front for that fastball. That was tattooed.”
It was emblematic of the sort of offensive showing the Scotties were able to compile on veteran Big Red starter Cooper Blackburn, who was saddled with seven earned runs in six innings.
The first four batters reached for Tri-Valley in the second, two via bunts. Nate Better’s bunt, which allowed him to reach after an error, followed Drake Huffman’s squeeze bunt that sent home the third run of the inning.
Sensibaugh’s RBI triple one batter later was one of the few big hits in the inning, as Hadley’s team was determined to use small ball to its advantage early.
“We had some guys hitting today that were lower in the order,” Hadley said. “If you make teams make plays, good things are going to happen. I’ve seen it all year.”
Steubenville finally found some traction when Zach Smith and Bubby Reese had consecutive singles to start the fourth, and Blackburn’s one-out single loaded the bases two batters later.
Harney induced Cole Bowers to strike out, but junior Aydan Manning responded with a double down the first-base line that ricocheted off of Baker’s face and rolled into foul territory. It cut the lead to 6-2.
Big Red got no closer, however. Steubenville loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth after walks to Brody Saccoccia and Smith and an infield single from Lee Sewell, but Harney induced a pop out to end the inning.
It was Steubenville’s final charge. Kaufman pitched two hitless innings with two strikeouts to end it.
Tuesday’s affair was the final defeat in an 18-loss season that was much like the others.
“We had one bad inning, but that has been our year,” Big Red coach Fred Heatherington said. “We have always had a bad inning somewhere and it’s tough to come through, but our kids keep fighting. I give them credit for that. They keep fighting until you get the last out and that’s the way it should be.
“We didn’t have the year we expected,” Heatherington added. “But we battled. We had seven one-run losses and five walk-off losses. It’s tough to go through that, but our kids came out every day and fought.”
Tri-Valley (17-5), the No. 2 seed, advanced to play Muskingum Valley League-Big School Division rival John Glenn at 5 p.m. on May 22 at a site to be determined. The Muskies upset No. 8 seed Indian Creek, 5-2, in their sectional final.
[email protected]; Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR
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