Big Red jumps on Huskies early
Edwards slams the door in relief, Steubenville wins third-straight
STEUBENVILLE -- For the third time in as many days Big Red added a notch to the win column on Wednesday--the last two of which against opponents ranked in the most recent Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Poll.
A day after fending off Indian Valley on the road, Fred Heatherington's club plated six runs in the first two innings on the way to topping visiting Harrison Central, 9-5, at Vaccaro Field on Wednesday evening.
The Huskies were ranked No. 9 in Division III in the latest OHSBCA poll, while Indian Valley was ranked No. 3 in Division II.
Steubenville (9-4) plated five runs in the bottom of the first inning and added another in the second for a 6-0 lead, then, after the Huskies had clawed back within a run, Hakim Edwards came on in relief and slammed the door shut while his team added to the lead.
"Whoever we play is a fight," Heatherington said. "That is the mentality our kids have. Whoever we are playing, we have to be ready to play seven innings. We played six innings (Wednesday), we had one bad inning, but we got out of it and got the momentum back."
Zach Francis drove in a pair of runs with a double in the first, while J.D. Ellis singled in a run and Cooper Blackburn got an RBI when we was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
J.T. Thompson made it 6-0 in the second with a sac fly to plate Zach Smith, who doubled.
The Huskies (11-5) were held without a hit by Blackburn for three innings, but had no shortage of base runners as Big Red committed three early errors and Huskies drew three walks.
Jace Madizia drove in the Huskies first run in the third before his team recorded a hit with a sac fly, another run scoring on a ball that got away after a two-out error.
Harrison Central got its first hit in the fourth and then made things interesting in the fifth.
A walk and back-to-back singles from Kaden Jurosko and Tre Rex loaded the bases and ended the day for Blackburn (seven strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings), before RBI walks and a run on a passed ball off of Ayden Manning made it a 6-5 game and prompted another change on the mound with the bases again loaded up.
That is when Edwards got the ball, and proceeded to get the next two outs with the lead in tact on his way to fanning five in the final 2 2/3 innings to earn the save.
"They're not going to die, that's the kind of team they are and that's why they're playing for a (OVAC) championship on Friday night," Heatherington said of the Huskies. "
He sat down three-straight in the sixth after a leadoff single by Treston Nemeth and worked a 1-2-3 seventh to close things out, ending with a punchout.
"Hakim came in and did a great job," Heatherington said. "He shut it down. He threw strikes and that is all he had to do."
Big Red's bats re-awoke in the sixth to send him to mound in the seventh with a more comfortable cushion, Edwards himself driving in two and Blackburn one to provide the final margin.
"We lost the momentum, but we got it back," Heatherington said. "We scored six, quick runs, then couldn't do anything after that."
The Huskies left 10 men on base, which came back to bite them.
"We missed a ton of chances, especially early," Harrison Central head coach Mike Valesko said. "Giving up five runs in the first is such a gut punch here. Credit to those guys, they made plays, but also credit to our guys because they kept battling. We're not going to quit, we keep battling and we gave ourselves a chance.
"It's always a battle when we play (Big Red), we have a lot of respect for those guys."
UP NEXT
Harrison Central: Battles Cambridge in the OVAC Class 4A title game at 8 p.m. on Friday at the Edison Multisport Complex.
Big Red: Also has Thursday off before a makeup game at St. Clairsville on Friday and a trip to East Liverpool on Saturday.
Big Red 9, Harrison Central 5
Harrison Central 0-0-2 0-3-0 0 - 5 4 1
Big Red 5-1-0 0-0-3 x - 9 10 3
HARRISON CENTRAL (11-5): Snyder (LP, 3 1/3IP, 6R, 6ER, 6H, 0K, 6BB, 2HBP), Lopez (2 2/3IP, 3R, 3ER, 4H, 1K, 1BB) and Nemeth. Nemeth S; Madzia RBI; Jurosko S; Rex S; C. Arbaugh RBI; R. Arbaugh RBI.
BIG RED (9-4): Blackburn (WP, 4 1/3IP, 5R, 3ER, 3H, 7K, 4BB, 1HBP), Manning (0IP, 0R, 0H, 0K, 3BB), Edwards (SV, 2 2/3IP, 0R, 1H, 5K, 0BB) and Smith. Smith 2S, D; Thompson RBI; Fleming S; Manning S; Edwards 2S, RBI; Blackburn 2S, RBI; Francis D, S, 2RBI; Ellis S, RBI.