Big sixth inning propels St. Edward past Berea-Midpark, 4-1

By: Chris Ginley

AVON, Ohio- The rain held off enough to allow the St. Edward Eagles and the Berea-Midpark Titans to square off in a non-league game at Sprenger Stadium in Avon.

On a day where St. Edward honored the 1998 and the 2008 state championship teams, the Eagles hoped to put on an entertaining performance for their alumni.

“It was important to honor the 10 and 20 year anniversary of those teams. They paved the path for our team this season and we want them to reach that level,” said St. Edward Head Coach Matt Rosinski.

Mackenzie Wainwright proved to be a catalyst early on in the game, hitting a leadoff double that was inches away from going over the fence. Wainwright would later score on a wild pitch to put the Eagles up 1-0.

St. Edward looked to be putting together an early rally, as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, but Spencer Marinac flew out to right, and the Berea-Midpark right fielder Giano Zuccaro made a terrific throw to catcher Jackson Host to catch St. Edward’s Zach Maxey trying to tag-up and give the Eagles another run to complete an inning-ending double play.

St. Edward starting pitcher Schutz started out strong and was very good at inducing fly ball outs, as he got six Titans to fly out in the first three innings.

Berea-Midpark did a good job at putting together quality at-bats against Schutz, loading the bases in the top of the second and third innings, but were unable to get any of those runners across the plate.

Rosinski decided to go to his bullpen early, as Corey Stofko came on to pitch in the fifth inning. Gianno Zuccaro lead-off the inning with a walk, the first time in the game that Berea-Midpark got their leadoff runner on base the entire game. He then advanced to second on a sac bunt by Jackson Host. Jacob Andrews got the Titans on the board by hitting a single just outside the reach of St. Edward shortstop Zach Maxey to tie the game at 1.

St. Edward had a chance to answer right back in the bottom of the fifth, starting with Wainwright leading off the inning with his second hit of the game, the only two hits for the Eagles up to that point. “Last year we kind of struggled to get games going. It was important for me, but mostly the team for me to get on base so our team could get some offense going,” said Wainwright on his big game.

After a walk to Mohnickey and a hit by pitch to Spencer Crane, Jordan Stevens had a chance to break the game wide open. He eventually flew out to right fielder Zuccaro, who almost narrowly collided with centerfielder Jacob Andrews to end the inning.

St. Edward scored the go-ahead run when John Sherman advanced on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth. Spencer Marinac scored the Eagles second run of the inning when he was hit by a pitch. JC Bricker came on to pitch for Berea-Midpark after Marinac scored. “We wanted our guys to get that third or fourth at-bat today and hopefully extend our lead. It was the bottom of the order that got our rally in the sixth inning started for us,” said Rosinski.

The big sixth inning propelled St. Edward to a 4-1 win over Berea-Midpark.

St. Edward will face the Amherst Comets at League Park on Saturday, a matchup of two of the top teams in the state of Ohio. Rosinski had this to say about their big game with Amherst, “It seems like Amherst and us have developed a good rivalry over the past few years. Both of us have had good teams and have had some good games. It should be a fun game.”