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Red Knights, Karaffa drain River

KNIGHTING — Toronto’s Nate Karaffa pitches while River’s Bailey Braudon watches on Saturday. (Photo by Joe Catullo)

TORONTO — Nate Karaffa hurled a gem, and he was backed up by plenty of offense as No. 1 seed Toronto baseball team blanked No. 4 seed River, 11-0, in five innings in an OVAC Class 4A semifinal Saturday afternoon at the Knight Baseball Complex.

“It was a good day,” Toronto (12-1) head coach Brian Perkins said. “Our kids had prom last night, and the kids really showed up ready to play today. Our kids knew it was tournament time, and they looked to get after it.”

Karaffa pitched 4 2/3 innings of no-hit ball, and only a bad bounce prevented him from throwing a no-hitter.

“Toronto has got a great program,” River (5-3) head coach Mark Romick said. “They have a couple of Division I players. They have a couple of guys going to Ohio State. They also have some other nice ballplayers who will probably play Division I baseball.

“We are very, very young, and our youth showed. We were not in position to make some plays. When you do things like that against a team like Toronto that has a high baseball IQ, you are in trouble.”

With the win, Toronto will now play Linsly in the tournament final at 5 p.m. Friday down at the I-470 Complex. Linsly, the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Catholic Central, 5-3, Saturday afternoon at home in the other semifinal.

Karaffa struck out five and did not walk a batter en route to picking up the victory.

“Nate pitched a gem, and we hit the ball hard,” Perkins said.

The Red Knights broke the game wide open with seven runs in the bottom of the third inning. Toronto tallied seven hits, and four of them went for extra bases.

“I have a lot of respect for coach Romick,” Perkins said. “He does a good job. We got a really good game on the mound from Nate Karaffa. The kids played well. When you get a good pitching, play good defense and hit the ball hard, that combination is a recipe for winning.”

The Pilots used four pitchers in the game. Chase Lawrence started and took the loss. He did not record a strikeout, while walking two in 2 1/3 innings of work.

The Red Knights tallied two runs in the second to take the early lead and led 9-0 after three. They scored two runs in the fourth to put the mercy rule in play.

“We gave them seven outs in the second inning,” Romick said. “You know what is going to happen when you do that against a good team like Toronto. You can’t give a team like that extra outs. We knew we were going to have to play error-free baseball and had to hope for some breaks to go our way.”

Zach Gulczynski belted a three-home run, Zach Berger belted a triple and an RBI double, and Nolan Clegg ended up with a two-run double. Kobe Herrick recorded two singles, Cole Bodnar collected a base hit and Lucas Gulczynski plated a run with a groundout.

Lawrence singled with two outs in the fifth for River’s lone hit.

“They did make some mistakes, but we took advantage of them,” Perkins said. “We hit the ball hard, and that created some opportunities for us. When you hit the ball hard, good things are going to happen.”

The Red Knights made it to the tournament finals last season as the No. 1 seed, but Wheeling Central, the No. 2 seed, came away with a 5-3 victory to win the championship.

Reclaiming the conference championship was one of the goals the Red Knights set for themselves coming into this season.

“The kids are anxious to get back down there,” Perkins said. “We remember what happened last year. It was not a good feeling. We want to go down there this year and represent the city of Toronto.”

Toronto is scheduled to play at 5 p.m. Monday at home against Columbiana in an Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference matchup.

Meanwhile, River is scheduled to play at 5 p.m. Monday at Shenandoah.

“This was our eighth game,” Romick said. “We knew it was going to be tough. Toronto has a great team. This was a great opportunity for our kids. I would rather play this game than against a team that throws the ball all over the place. We can learn from this.”

Toronto 11, River 0

River 0-0-0 0-0 — 0 1 4

Toronto 0-2-7 2-x — 11 7 1

RIVER (5-3): Lawrence (LP, 2 1/3IP, 6R, (4ER), 4H, 0K, 2BB) (1/3IP, 3R, Marty (3ER), 2H, 0K, 0BB), Williams (1/3IP, 1R, (1ER), 1H, 0K, 0BB), C. Dennis (1IP, 1R, (0ER), 0H, 0K, 0BB) and H. Dennis

TORONTO (12-1): Karaffa (WP, CG, OR, (0ER), 1H, 5K, 0BB) and L. Gulczynski.

TWO OR MORE HITS: River none; Toronto (Beger 2, Herrick 2). DOUBLES: River none; Toronto 2 (Clegg, Berger). TRIPLES: River none; Toronto 1 (Berger). HOME RUNS: River none; Toronto 1 (Z. Gulczynski). RBIs: River none; Toronto (Z. Gulczynski 3,Clegg 2, L. Gulczynski, Berger).

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