Five-run fifth propels Creek to OVAC final
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MINGO JUNCTION -- Sometimes in baseball it seems everything changes with one swing of the bat.
Indian Creek had struggled to get its hard-hit balls to find holes for four innings and made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the field to find itself in a hole.
In the fifth, however, once one ball found a gap, it seemed they all found a gap as Creek used a five-run rally to pull ahead and did not look back on the way to a 7-3 OVAC semifinal victory over visiting Cambridge on Tuesday.
The win puts the No. 2 seed Redskins into Saturday's Class 4A championship, which will be played at Edison.
"That was not our prettiest game defensively, I don't know that we've had that many errors in a game all season … but our offense stepped up," Indian Creek head coach Mike Cottis said. "Their pitcher, Dawson Geese, is a really nice pitcher. I thought we prepared well for him, we had five days to work on it and these guys came out and did the job."
Ty Householder's RBI double which tied the game at 3-all started the game-deciding rally for Creek. It was his second two-baser and third hit of the game. Landon Pownall then gave the Redskins (14-3) the lead with a sac fly, then Gavin Pownall sent a ball into the outfield that dropped and plated two more runs. Hunter Rusnak capped the rally with an RBI single of his own, making it 7-3, which proved to be the final margin.
"Hitting is contagious, right?" Cottis said. "We started off hitting the ball hard from the beginning, but a lot of them were just right at guys. We started finding holes and got the momentum. We did a good job with pitch selection, too, and were patient. I'm proud of these guys, they had some really good at bats."
Silus Hyde went four innings for Creek with three punchouts, while just one of the three Cambridge runs were earned. Sal Barcalow then came on and fired the final three innings scoreless, allowing just one hit and sitting down two in earning the win in relief.
"We got a really good outing from Silus and Sal came on and did a great job," Cottis said. "They threw strikes and gave us a chance and that's all you can ask."
For the Bobcats (10-6), the No. 3 seed, things were going well until they weren't.
The visitors jumped ahead with a pair of runs in the top of the first coming on a Geese RBI double and a Redskins error, then responded with a run in the fourth after Creek had battled back to tie the game in the third.
Geese, though, could not hold the Redskins bats at bay past the fourth and took the loss.
"That's the thing, we knew Creek could put the ball in play," Cambridge coach Jamaal Lowery said. "They have been doing that well for years now. We knew they were going to hit the ball and we had to eliminate the damage, and we did that very well for four and a half innings.
"Baseball is a funny game, that's why you play seven innings. My hat's off to them, we threw our ace at them and they threw their No. 1 at us and it was some good baseball for four and a half innings."
Barcalow had an RBI double in the first for Creek and Landon Pownall had an RBI groundout in the third.
UP NEXT
Cambridge: Travels to Millersburg to take on West Holmes Friday evening.
Indian Creek: Travels to the Crimson Complex on Thursday to take on Big Red in a regular season contest before taking on St. Clairsville in Saturday's OVAC championship game. Both games will be a chance at some revenge as the Redskins' three losses this season have come to the Red Devils twice and Steubenville.
OVAC Class 4A Semifinal
at Muth Field in Mingo Junction
No. 2 Indian Creek 7, No. 3 Cambridge 3
Cambridge 2-0-0 1-0-0 0 – 3 3 1
Indian Creek 1-0-1 0-5-0 x – 7 9 5
CAMBRIDGE (10-6): Geese (LP, 5IP, 7R, 7ER, 8H, 1K, 4BB), Gregg (1IP, 0R, 1H, 0K, 0BB) and Rogers. Rogers 2S; Geese S, RBI.
INDIAN CREEK (14-3): Hyde (4IP, 3R, 1ER, 2H, 3K, 3BB), Barcalow (WP, 3IP, 0R, 1H, 2K, 0BB) and Rusnak. Householder 2D, S, RBI; Maurer S; Barcalow D, RBI; L. Pownall 2RBI; G. Pownall S, 2RBI; Rusnak S, RBI; Amis 2S.