Andrew Grimm MAKING A PLAY — Indian Creek second baseman Max Lane makes a throw to first for an out against Big Red on Wednesday.

Wednesday evening’s rainy match up between teams set to play for OVAC titles later this week between Indian Creek and Big Red was one of those such games.

Despite Steubenville out-hitting the Redskins 12-4 in the game, it was Creek that left Players’ Field with a 9-4 victory.

“We didn’t hit the ball real well today, but early on we drew some walks, ran the bases well and came up with some big hits when we needed them,” Indian Creek head coach Mike Cottis said. “We have to do a better job of hitting going forward. We’re going to get back to work in batting practice and get better at the plate.

“Like coach (John) Ziegler said after the game the hit column doesn’t look to pretty but it’s the run column that matters most.”

Andrew Grimm SOLID CONTACT — Big Red's AJ Borsch gets his bat on the ball for an RBI double.

A couple of Big Red (12-5) miscues and seven walks drawn by Creek batters gave the visitors the opportunities they needed, and they took advantage, finishing with more than twice as many runs as hits.

Creek (15-2) scored two in the top of the first and one each in the second and third, but it was a four-run fourth inning that really put them in control, turning a 4-1 lead into an 8-1 advantage.

Big Red battled back in the fifth, plating three runs, and had runners on second and third in the sixth, but the hole was simply already too deep.

“We started too late, we can’t wait until the fifth inning to get going,” Big Red head coach Justin Banks said. “We know that. We just waited too long and didn’t have enough time. The elements were the same for both teams, there’s no excuse, we just waited too long to get going. You can’t do that against a good team like that.”

The game, moved to Big Red’s turf field from Creek’s natural grass surface at Muth Field due to the rain, was played in a light rain for the majority of the first half of the contest and another shower came through in the fifth inning.

Andrew Grimm ON THE MOUND — Indian Creek's Parker Heath fires a pitch against Big Red.

Creek’s early lead came from a Hunter Rusnak RBI single and the senior catcher scoring on a passed ball. He was the only Creek player with multiple hits and finished with four RBIs. His second hit came in the big fourth inning, plating two more.

Creek’s runs in the second and third came on an RBI groundout by Dom DeGruttlolo and a sac fly by Sylus Hyde.

All four of Creek’s runs in the fourth came with two outs, the other two crossing on passed balls.

Matt Fabbro had a sac fly for Big Red in the second and AJ Borsch cleared the bases with a three-run double off the fence in left center to cut the deficit to four at the time, but Creek got one of the runs back in the top of the sixth on a fielder’s choice and Big Red stranded five over the final two innings.

Creek’s Parker Heath fired the first four innings and Adam Brother shook a shaky start to his relief outing to earn a three inning save.

Andrew Grimm SAFE — Big Red's Cole Bowers dives past a tag from Creek catcher Hunter Rusnak.

Big Red’s Jaggar Rawson took the loss but just two of the eight runs against were earned in his four innings. Borsch came on and fanned four straight batters and Nolan Blackburn fired the final 1 2/3.

Rocco Nocera had three hits for Big Red, while Cole Bowers and Rawson each had two knocks.

UP NEXT

Indian Creek: Is slated to visit Weir High today before battling Linsly in the OVAC Class 4A championship Saturday morning at Edison.

Big Red: Hosts Brooke today before taking on Morgantown in the OVAC Class 5A championship game Friday at Mazeroski Field in Cadiz.

Andrew Grimm BIG HIT — Indian Creek's Ian Starkey gestures to teammates after sliding into third with a triple.

Indian Creek 9, Big Red 4

IC 2-1-1 4-0-1 0 — 9 4 1

BR 0-1-0 0-3-0 0 — 4 12 2

INDIAN CREEK (15-2): Heath (WP, 1R, 1ER, 5H, 1K, 1BB), A. Brothers (SV, 3IP, 3R, 3ER, 7H, 3K, 1BB) and Rusnak. Starkey T; Rusnak 2S, 4RBIs; Hyde RBI; Lane S; DeGruttolo RBI.

BIG RED (12-5): Rawson (LP, 4IP, 8R, 2ER, 3H, 3K, 6BB), Borsch (1 1/3IP, 1R, 1ER, 1H, 4K, 1BB), Blackburn (1 2/3IP, 0R, 0H, 0K, 0BB) and Simmons. Borsch D, 2RBIs; Rawson 2S, RBI; Bowers 2S; Nocera 3S; Blackburn S; Simmons S; Fabbro S, RBI; Chmielorski S.

Andrew Grimm PITCHING — Big Red's Jaggar Rawson delivers to a Creek batter.

Andrew Grimm THROWING ACROSS — Indian Creek third baseman Dom DeGruttola makes a play.