Red Devils Jump On West Holmes For Semifinals Win

The Red Devils had little trouble with the West Holmes Knights on Monday, defeating them on neutral ground at Harrison Central’s Mazeroski Field in the Ohio Division II East District 1 semifinals, 9-1, setting up a playoff rematch from last year in the District Finals.

Top-seeded St. Clairsville will face the No. 5 seed New Philadelphia on Wednesday at the same site. It’s a do-over of last year’s District Semifinals, where New Philadelphia defeated the Red Devils 8-3.

Before they could advance though, St. C. had to down the 10th-seeded Knights. The Red Devils wasted no time in taking a lead, scoring four runs in the first inning, while Brody Saunders allowed a single run in a complete game win.

“I thought they came out excited today, ready to go,” St. Clairsville head coach Tom Sliva said. “We had a good couple days of practice. This time of the year that’s all that it’s about; moving on.

“We did a nice job of jumping on them early, that often takes a lot of air out of the other team’s dugout, it gave us a lot of momentum. Our pitcher did an outstanding job of keeping them down and we did a good job of tacking on.”

The first three batters of the game for St. Clairsville reached, sending Mason Myers to the plate with bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the first. Myers launched a two-run double to plate the first of many runs.

The centerfielder would end with three hits and three RBI.

The Red Devils capitalized on a West Holmes mistake next. With men on second and third, Saunders soared a fly ball to deep right field, and after the catch both runners tagged up for third and home, respectively. The throw from the cutoff man was off-line though, getting past the third baseman. What had been a sacrifice fly situation turned into two runs, Myers rounding third and going home on the error.

West Holmes responded by loading the bases in their next chance, getting runners around the diamond thanks to two hit-by-pitches and a walk wedged among two outs. Saunders, though, was able to keep a clean sheet by inducing a 1-3 groundout to end the inning.

Saunders struck out 10 and walked only one, allowing one run and five hits. West Holmes loaded the bases on him twice, and put runners on every inning but one- the sixth inning, where Saunders struck out the side- but the junior hurler was able to pull together and avoid the big swing through an impressive start.

“We know they’re a good baseball team, Brody knew they were going to fight and he fought too,” Sliva said. “He got out of some jams, defensively we did a great job and he did a great job making some really key pitches.”

Myers was back at it again in the second, lacing a two-out double down the left field line to plate another run.

West Holmes responded in their turn at-bat in the third, Morgan Smith smashing a double over the left fielder’s head to drive in a run and make it 5-1.

Saunders was able to end the inning thereafter though, picking Smith off at second base to get back in the dugout.

Braylen Blomquist recorded an RBI base hit in the fifth to make it 6-1.

Another Knights error let more Red Devils across in the sixth. With runners on second and third and Saunders up at the plate once again, the junior smashed a ball to deep center field. While the center fielder got to the play on the run, the ball popped out of his glove, and another sacrifice fly situation resulted in a second score.

Caleb Keenan drove in Saunders from second with a base hit to round things out at 9-1.

Myers had three hits for three RBI, Blomquist totaled four hits, both stole a base, as did Rowan Mellott.

“Our seniors did a good job, Braylen Blomquist with three or four hits, Mason Myers, Hunter Hoffman, Marcus Bush behind the plate, all those guys did an outstanding job today,” Sliva said. “It was a team win- that’s a cliche, but it was. Everybody played a role in different ways throughout the game, good pickoffs, bunts laid down, sacrifices, all those things add up.”

St. Clairsville beat Buckeye Local on May 14 to advance to Monday’s district semis, but would’ve been left without game action for a prolonged stretch leading up to their next game. The Red Devils were able to mutually agree to an officiated exhibition against Barnesville, themselves victorious Monday in their D-3 District Semifinal game against Garaway, this past Thursday, with the hopes of keeping the teams game-ready.

With St. C. coming out of the gates firing Monday, it seems the idea worked for Sliva’s crew.

“We wanted to see live pitching, we didn’t want to be sitting for six days in a row,” Sliva said. “I think we got good at-bats and sometimes when you do that you see what you need to work on. I think some guys did and we were able to improve on some of their at-bats.”

St. Clairsville is set to face New Philadelphia on Wednesday at Mazeroski Field in Cadiz.