Andrew Grimm CELEBRATION — Indian Creek's Ian Starkey is greeted by teammate Max Lane after crossing home plate for a key run in the seventh inning against Weir High.

The Redskins, however, did no such thing.

Creek scored stormed back from a 7-1 deficit, then rallied again with two outs in the top of the seventh after falling behind again to earn a hard-fought, come-from-behind 11-9 victory on the road at Weir High.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Indian Creek head coach Mike Cottis said. “It did not start off real good. I’m so proud of the boys for sticking with it. It would have been easy to just pack it in and start looking ahead, but these guys didn’t do that, they kept chipping away.

“Weir is a good team, they have good pitching and some guys that swing it. They’re going to make some noise in their postseason.”

Andrew Grimm MAKING THE PLAY — Weir High shortstop Kason Lash makes a play to second for an out.

Creek senior catcher and No. 2 hitter Hunter Rusnak was injured prior to the game and a late scratch, shuffling Creek’s line up at the last second.

With backup catcher James Brothers starting on the mound, Max Lane was thrust behind the plate for the first couple of innings, Brothers moving there when he was lifted from the game after 1 2/3 innings.

Ian Starkey, normally in the nine hole in the line up, moved up to the two spot and went 3 for 4 with a double and three RBIs.

“We had to move guys around and that can cause a little panic, but the guys that went in did a great job,” Cottis said. “We had two new guys catching and it just shows these guys are athletes and can play anywhere.”

After the rough start, sophomore Garrin Clark was tasked with calming things down for the Redskins (16-2). Not only did he do that, he earned his first varsity victory, going the final 5 1/3 innings allowing two runs and striking out a pair. He had only pitched one inning this season prior to Thursday.

Andrew Grimm HEADED HOME — Indian Creek's Gavin Pownall rounds third base and heads for home plate to score a run.

“Garrin came in and did a fantastic job,” Cottis said. “We’re really proud of him.”

As good as they finished, the start was a different story for Creek.

After both teams scored a run in the first inning, Weir High (12-13), which entered the game red-hot on a four-game winning streak, exploded for six runs in the bottom of the second to take a 7-1 lead.

Creek, though, kept battling and broke through with a four spot in the top of the fourth to get within two, then plated three more in the top of the fifth to take their first lead, 8-7.

The Red Riders had a response of their own, as Aleks Zanieski and Cayden Braswell hit back-to-back two out RBI doubles in the bottom of the sixth to put the hosts back on top.

Andrew Grimm ON THE MOUND — Weir High starter Cayden Braswell delivers against Indian Creek.

Creek, though, had one more response in them as Sylus Hyde ripped a two-out RBI double off the fence to score two and put the Redskins back on top, Luke McVicker tallying an RBI single to add some insurance.

Clark then worked a scoreless bottom half to finish off the victory.

“We could have hung our heads after getting down again but these guys didn’t, they kept battling,” Cottis said. “Sylus had a couple big hits again, he does that for us all the time. We just have a feeling when he’s up, he’s going to find a gap.”

Hyde, the Ashland University signee, finished with a monster day at the plate, going 4 for 5 with two doubles and six RBIs.

Braswell drove in four runs and had a pair of hits for the Red Riders while striking out eight in the first four innings on the mound in a no decision. Nick DiMatteis and Zanieski each had two hits and two RBIs for the Red Riders.

Andrew Grimm ON THE MOVE — Indian Creek's Ian Starkey heads to third on a teammate's base hit.

“I told our guys that when you get up, you can’t take your foot off the pedal, we have to keep the pressure on,” Weir High head coach Dave Cowden said. “That’s a very good team in the other dugout and when you let a good team hang around, that’s the kind of thing that can happen. I hope we learned the lesson today, it’s a tough lesson to learn.

“Indian Creek put the bat on the ball from the top to bottom of their line up. They’re a good team, they put the pressure on and they’re 16-2 for a reason.

“We had it and we let it get away. The good thing about baseball is we play again on Saturday so we can go back out there and put this one behind us.”

UP NEXT

Indian Creek: Will take on Linsly in the OVAC Class 4A championship game on Saturday morning at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.

Andrew Grimm BIG SWING — Weir High's Aleks Zanieski launhes one of his two doubles.

Weir High: Looks to bounce back on Saturday traveling to Union Local.

Indian Creek 11, Weir High 9

IC 1-0-0 4-3-0 3 — 11 12 1

WH 1-6-0 0-0-2 0 — 9 11 1

INDIAN CREEK (16-2): J. Brothers (1 2/3IP, 7R, 7ER, 6H, 0K, 2BB, 1HBP), Clark (WP, 5 1/3IP, 2R, 2ER, 5H, 2K, 1BB) and Lane, and J. Brothers (2). Hyde 2D, 2S, 6RBIs; Starkey D, 2S, 3RBIs; McVicker 2S, RBI; Wedlake S; Lane S; Goodwin S.

WEIR HIGH (12-13): Braswell (4IP, 5R, 5ER, 6H, 8K, 3BB, 1HBP), Geer (LP, 3IP, 6R, 6ER, 6H, 1K, 4BB) and Geer, and Williamson (5). Zanieski D, S, 2RBIs; Braswell D, S, 4RBIs; DiMatteis 2S, 2RBIs; Glyptis S; Glass S; Geer S; Williamson S; Horstman S.