Avon Lake wins Sectional Opener 4-2 over North Ridgeville

By: Chris Ginley

AVON LAKE, Ohio– Playoff baseball is finally here. Avon Lake opened up sectional play Monday evening against the North Ridgeville Rangers in a low scoring, tightly contested matchup. Avon Lake Head Coach Kevin Marlow had this to say about the playoffs, “It is fun to start playing playoff baseball. We wish we had some more momentum going in, but it is still exciting.”

From the start of the game, it seemed like Avon Lake starting pitcher Ryan Shinko would be dealing today, as he had four strikeouts in the first two innings. “Shimko has had a great year and he was dialed in today. He had a great outing,” said Marlow about his starting pitcher’s big day on the mound.

Avon Lake got the scoring started when Mike Sacco got the grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring leadoff hitter, Jacob Caraballo, to put the Shoremen up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. The Shoremen tacked on another run the next inning when Jason Gregovits earned a bases-loaded walk, scoring Tanner Russell to give the Shoremen a 2-0 lead.

While it seemed like Shimko was dealing in the first two innings, he did have a little trouble finishing innings, as he often allowed runners to get on base with two outs. In each of the first four innings, Shimko allowed two runners each to reach base while there was two outs in the inning. “We let it get away a little bit, but we give him credit for finishing those innings,” said Marlow.

The bottom of the third is where Avon Lake broke the game open. Connor Koncelnik got the first big hit of the game, lining a double to left field. With two outs, the next four hitters reached base, via a walk or a single, at which point North Ridgeville changed pitchers. Kai Kuwalu singled in a run and Caraballo earned a walk to put the Shoremen up 4-0 Timely hitting and clutch at-bats allowed them to extend the inning. Marlow had this to say about the big inning, “the bottom of our order played great for us today. It was something that we could build upon, whether it was a hit or a sacrifice bunt to advance a runner.”

North Ridgeville finally got on the board in the top of the fourth when some defensive miscommunication by Avon Lake allowed Cannon Kerr to advance multiple bases and try to start chipping away at the Shoremen lead. Evan Truelson hit a solid single to right field, scoring Cade Riley to cut the deficit in half 4-2. Unfortunately, that is all the scoring that the Rangers would get in this matchup.

With their win, Avon Lake will advance to play Olmsted Falls tomorrow.