ON THE MOUND ONE MORE TIME — Big Red senior Bubby Reese fires a pitch in relief work during Monday’s East District semifinal against New Philadelphia at Minerva. - Andrew Grimm

MINERVA — The Big Red baseball team put together a strong spring and saw a lot of its players make a lot of progress, putting together a bounce back season that more than doubled its win total and got back to the district tournament.

The district semifinals, unfortunately, is where the run ended on Monday as Steubenville dropped a 10-1 contest to New Philadelphia in the East 1 bracket semis at Minerva’s Carl Michael Field.

Big Red, which was the No. 3 seed, drops the curtain at 19-6.

“It was a good season,” veteran Big Red head coach Fred Heatherington said. “We busted our butts in the beginning the year and our goal was to come out and play the game and we did that. These guys had something to prove and they proved it. Going 19-6, anybody in the state would take that record.

“It never ends up the way you want it to except for four teams. I told them they have a lot to be proud of.”

Departing from the group that also qualified for the OVAC tournament as the top seed will be four seniors in pitcher/outfielder Aydan Manning, pitcher/outfielder Bubby Reese, first baseman Martie Lovato and shortstop Cal Beadling. All three played instrumental roles as multi-year starters.

“Our seniors were great leaders, we could not have asked for more,” Heatherington said. “The young guys picked up on things from the seniors, we had good comradery. You can’t win in high school without a good, character team and this year we had a character team and that’s why we had success. All of (the credit for) that goes to (the players). They picked each other up no matter what happened, that’s what was so good about this team.

“We wish the seniors the best of luck in the future. The young guys will get ready for next year.”

The Quakers, the No. 5 seed in the bracket, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and never trailed. Noah Bollon opened the scoring with an RBI double after a Big Red error on his way to a three-hit, four RBI day for New Philly.

He later had a two-run knock in the fourth inning, which helped the Quakers pull ahead after clinging to the early one-run lead.

The game remained 1-0 Quakers through three innings, Big Red leaving a pair of base runners stranded in the first and second.

Bollon’s two-run knock in the fourth, though, was part of a four-run inning to make it 5-0 and changed the complexion.

Big Red battled back with a run in the bottom half when Nolan Blackburn led the inning off with a single and later scored on another single by Kail Simmons, but Simmons got hung up between first and second putting two out and no one on to stymie any building momentum.

New Philly, though, then plated four more in the top of the fifth to make the hill much steeper.

Manning had a double and Hayden Hicks a pair of singles for Big Red.

Manning, a Malone University signee, fired the first 3 2/3 innings and struck out two. Matt Fabbro (1 1/3 innings) and Reese (two innings) each worked in relief.

The Quakers’ Owen Courtney tossed a complete game, striking out seven and walking two.

New Philly will take on top-seeded St. Clairsville in the district final on Wednesday at Harrison Central.

Ohio Division II East 1 District Semifinal

At Minerva’s Carl Michael Field

No. 5 New Philadelphia 10,

No. 3 Steubenville 1

New Philadelphia 1-0-0 4-4-1 0 – 10 12 1

Steubenville 0-0-0 1-0-0 0 – 1 7 3

NEW PHILADELPHIA (15-7): Courtney (WP, CG, 1R, 1ER, 7H, 7K, 3BB) and Bollon. McBride S, RBI; Caterina D; Courtney S, 2RBI; Bollon D, 2S, 4RBI; Blake 2S; Crowthers D, S, RBI; Steele 2S, RBI.

STEUBENVILLE (19-6): Manning (LP, 3 2/3IP, 5R, 4ER, 5H, 4K, 2BB, 2HBP), Fabbro (1 1/3IP, 4R, 4ER, 5H, 0K, 0BB, 3HBP), Reese (2IP, 1R, 0ER, 2H, 0K, 2BB) and Simmons. Reese S; Manning D; Blackburn S; Hicks 2S; Simmons S, RBI; Crosier S.