This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Westlake Boys Fall to Strongsville in District Semifinals

A two-point home run gave Strongsville the edge to beat the Demons on Friday at Brunswick High School.

It was not meant to be for the baseball team, which advanced to the Strongsville Division I district semifinal before falling to Strongsville, 13-4 on Friday afternoon at Brunswick High School.

Strongsville was to have to home field advantage until playing conditions at the high school forced officials to move the game to Brunswick. The Demons wrapped up in a 3-3 tie entering the fourth after Andrew Dunn rapped a two-run double in the second and Andy Haders drove in a run with a hit in the third.

But fate was not kind to the Demons, who fell from the tournament trail and dropped to 12-14 on the year with the loss. The unkind cut was a two-run homer by Strongsville's Forrest Perron, giving the Mustangs a 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Nate Maurer followed with a run-scoring double that pushed the Strongsville lead to 6-3 against Westlake starter Kevin Newman.

The Demons, who close the season Tuesday with a make up game with Midpark, looked to get right back in the hunt against the once-beaten Mustangs but had the rally end with a thud.

Trailing by three with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth, the Demons got a base hit down the left field line from Andy Haders, who had earlier driven in a run in the third that had tied the game at  3-3. The hit in the fifth scored one but Nolan Schultz's throw from left nailed Westlake's Jonathan Brick at third and wiped out another run.

With Strongsville's lead at two, the Mustangs began playing for keeps. Brick took over for Newman and was hit with four Mustang runs, with three coming on a 3-run homer by Schultz, who in the top of the inning had stopped the Demon rally with his throw. Strongsviile added another run on a bases loaded walk to Colin Houdek for a 10-4 lead after five.

Strongsville, which was 10-0 in Northeast Ohio Conference River Division play this year, nearly claimed the game on the mercy rule in the sixth. Getting three runs off Brick and Ryan Davis with the help of a pair of errors, a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly, the Mustangs were denied the mercy rule win when Davis struck out Austin Leggett with the bases loaded and two out. Had Leggett reached safely and brought the run home from third the game would have ended right there.

"We came alive in the tournament," said Westlake coach Jeff Short. "We beat Brecksville, which won (Southwestern Conference) and beat Amherst which was seeded fifth and Avon Lake, which was seeded third. And we beat them both handily. Our reward was Strongsville," he laughed. "We played with them for four innings but they can hit and we helped them out by not making some plays," he admitted.

"From one stand point it was a tough year. We started one senior and seven juniors and a sophomore. We lost two of or best players, Steve James and Bobby Bowles for significant parts of the season. There is a difference between winning on the junior varsity level and the varsity level and it took time for some of the kids to adjust but we did."

Strongsville's Austin Pritchard went six innings but worked himself out of trouble before the Mustang bats came alive.

"We usually get a lot of ground ball outs because we have guys who can play defense, but today Westlake hit a lot of balls in the air," said Strongsville coach Josh Sorge. "Austin has been our guy all year but we need better pitching if we are going to stay in the tournament. Our hitting won for us today."

For Westlake, which is 5-8 in SWC play with the Midpark game left, will use that final game to reward seniors. "We will start seniors in that one," Short said. "The league is decided and it will be the last time around for our seniors."

Strongsville moved to 18-1 with the win and will play at 11 a.m. Saturday at Strongsville High School in the district final against either North Olmsted or Brunswick.

Find out what's happening in Westlakewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Westlake