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Toronto moves to regional final today

Toronto’s Zach Gulczynski, left, is congratulated by teammate Nick Chetock after he scored the first run of the day Thursday in the Red Knights’ 2-1 victory against Danville in an Ohio Division IV regional baseball semifinal at Beavers Field in Lancaster. Toronto battles Waterford today for a berth in next week’s state tournament. — Rick Thorp

LANCASTER — As Toronto prepared to take the field for the top of the fifth inning Thursday in its Ohio Division IV regional semifinal against Danville, veteran Red Knights skipper Brian Perkins perked up the atmosphere in his dugout by reminding his club to relax and have fun.

Something must’ve clicked in the minds of his top-ranked squad, because during the next few minutes a game that’d lacked offense turned into a bit of a slugfest, if only for a few moments. It was just enough to send the folks from Jefferson County back home with a return trip in mind for today.

Cole Bodnar and Lucas Gulczynski both smacked RBI doubles in the pivotal frame Thursday afternoon, then hurler Nate Karaffa and the Toronto defense did the rest in securing a 2-1 victory at Beavers Field.

”Survive and advance,” Perkins stated. ”We hit the ball hard at times, and credit to (Danville), they made plays.

”They made plays all day long. Obviously, we didn’t hit the ball like we normally do, but, you know what? Survive and advance.”

Advance Toronto (26-3) did and the Red Knights spent another night in Fairfield County preparing for this afternoon’s regional championship tilt against Waterford. The Wildcats (24-6) avoided the raindrops Thursday, too, and downed South Webster, 6-3, setting up the 5 p.m. ”Elite 8” contest. The winner advances to next Friday’s state semifinal at Huntington Park in Columbus.

Toronto didn’t deliver the same offensive punch as in last spring’s regional semi against the Blue Devils — a 9-0 thrashing, also at Lancaster. However, with Karaffa on the hill, the two runs the Red Knights put on the board proved plenty.

Karaffa, the Ohio State University commit, struck out six, didn’t walk a batter and allowed just four hits.

”He did a wonderful job on the mound all day,” Perkins said. ”He threw a gem and our guys fielded the ball well behind him.”

The Red Knights were limited to four hits, too, by Blue Devils starter Wade Mickley. But two of his went for extra bases. And those, coupled with one of his five walks, proved to be Danville’s undoing.

After leaving runners stranded at first and third in the fourth, Toronto started the fifth with a walk by Zach Gulczynski. He soon moved to second on a wild pitch, setting the stage for Bodnar.

Bodnar ripped a shot to left center in the third that almost went for extra bases. This time, another shot to almost the same spot dropped and scored Zach Gulczynski, finally breaking the ice on the scoreboard.

With Zak Trudics pinchrunning for Bodnar, Lucas Gulczynski came through with two outs two batters later by sending a grounder in the hole between second and third plating Trudics.

After slowly knocking on the door the previous two innings, Perkins was happy to see his club finally knock it down in the fifth.

”I think early on we maybe had a case of the jitters,” he said. ”We’ve been in this atmosphere now. We’re a young team with only three seniors and, hopefully, we won’t have those jitters (today).”

Danville got into the scoring act, too, in the home half of the fifth.

Brant Zeitzelt was hit by a Karaffa pitch to start the inning, but the Red Knights hurler righted things for the moment by striking out a batter and getting another to fly out to center.

With two out, Jordan Stimpert, batting ninth, belted a double to right center allowing Neitzelt to score from second, where he’d advanced earlier on a pitch in the dirt.

Next, leadoff batter Dylan James got just enough of a Karaffa pitch to send it dribbling down the left field line. A play couldn’t be made and the Blue Devils had runners at first and third with two outs.

Toronto avoided further damage, though, as Karaffa got Skyler Durbin to hit a comebacker that ended the inning.

The Blue Devils got their leadoff batter on again in the sixth, but a series of force outs, combined with a groundout to short, ended that threat.

Karaffa was dominant in the seventh, retiring the side in order, including a strikeout of Stimpert to end things.

”Our kids have played well defensively all year,” Perkins said. ”We preach that. Pound the strike zone and the guys behind you will make routine plays.

”As long as you pitch well and field well that gives you a chance to win. And that’s the game we had (Thursday).”

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