Suburban League Showdown: Aurora Tops Nordonia, 6-2

The Aurora Greenmen picked up a 6-2 victory on the road against Suburban League rival Nordonia, continuing their impressive start to the 2017 season.

Aurora (6-1) received five solid innings out of junior right hander Michael Sapp, who picked up his first win of the season, allowing two hits and giving up two runs – both of which were unearned.

Earlier in the week, Sapp had a rough outing against Highland in another Suburban League match and Aurora coach Michael Brancazio was proud of his ability to bounce back with a short turnaround between starts.

“I was pleased with Michael,” Brancazio said. “He struggled Monday, so what I wanted to do was get him the ball early as soon as I could. So we slotted him to start today and I was very pleased with what he did. This is what he did last year. He commanded the strike zone. He was not afraid to throw inside and really commanded everything very well. I thought it was a sign of toughness going back from Monday to where he is now.”

Sapp’s offense gave him some help early on, as Aurora capitalized off a one out single by Jacob Blue in the top of the first.

Blue stole second, advanced to third on a balk and came home on a fielding error to give Aurora a 1-0 lead.

In a game where offense wasn’t easy to come by, plays like that were how the Greenmen manufactured runs throughout the day.

Both starting pitchers held serve for the next two innings.

Aurora added onto its lead in the top of the fourth, as junior Joe Capretta drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a passed ball, followed by a fielder’s choice ground out, which moved him up to third.

Drew McVay hit a sharp grounder to second and the throw home was not in time, scoring Capretta from third to make it a 2-0 game.

A walk, a stolen base, and another Nordonia error helped Aurora extend its lead to three runs midway through the fourth inning.

Nordonia’s offense responded, finally getting to Sapp, as the right hander gave up a leadoff single to Trey Crockett, hit a batter and issued a walk.

Crockett came around to score on a fielding error to make it a two-run game, but Sapp limited the damage heading into the fifth.

Evan Fromwiller came right back and delivered one of the biggest hits of the day, starting the inning off with a double to set Aurora’s next rally in motion.

Cleanup hitter Bubba Arslanian was hit by a pitch on the leg, and both runners went onto move into scoring position after a groundout.

Capretta drove in a run with another fielder’s choice RBI, followed by Brent Anderson’s RBI double, which scored Aslanian from third, giving Aurora a 5-1 lead.

Nordonia didn’t go down without a fight, as the Knights scratched a run across in the bottom half of the fifth, when Robby Levak scored, thanks to a pair of errors.

With a 5-2 lead, Aurora added one more in the sixth courtesy of a one out double by Jacob Blue and an RBI single from Fromwiller.

Brancazio didn’t want to take any chances and brought Chase Coady, one of Aurora’s best arms, into the game to start the bottom of the sixth.

“Chase is a guy who we know is going to be a top of the line starter for us, but a couple days ago we had to use him in a league game for an inning and I felt ‘you know what, if we want to get this game, let’s go with a guy that was dominant last year.'”

“So I went with Chase for a couple innings and he pounded the zone, as usual.”

Sometimes starting pitchers aren’t always happy to see their day come to an end, but that was not the case with Aurora’s starter.

Sapp feels that he and Coady are a good 1-2 punch and the junior was comfortable seeing his teammate come in for the save.

“Having Chase come in was really good,” Sapp said.

“I felt really comfortable. Chase is my man, we’re back-to-back pitchers and we’re good.”

Coady found himself in a bit of a jam in the sixth, as Nordonia loaded the bases with one out, but the right hander induced a pair of ground balls to get out of the inning unscathed.

The seventh was less dramatic and Coady closed out the multi-inning save, striking out three in two innings of work.

It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but Brancazio and the Greenmen will take a win any way they can get it, especially in a game against a tough opponent, like Nordonia.

“It wasn’t clean, but I liked the way we responded,” Brancazio said after the game.

“We gave up a run and then we’d respond with two. Every time they got a run, we gave something back. That’s the sign of a good team. We had our third baseman kind of struggle in the field a little bit so he responds with an RBI single.”

“Our right fielder made his first start ever in right field and he was diving for balls on the warning track. Our first baseman made his first start ever there and he did a good job in the seventh there.”

“That’s going to be the process here. We’re seven games in and we have a lot of work to do. We still haven’t had an outdoor practice so I’m very pleased with what we’re doing, but we know we have some work to do, if we’re going to achieve our ultimate goal.”

Nordonia falls to 7-3 with the loss, but coach Drew Hoisington doesn’t believe the day full of mental mistakes (five errors) was reflective of the type of team the Knights have.

“I think today it came down to one team came ready to play and the other team didn’t,” he said.

“I think we came out flat. It showed early. We dug ourselves a hole and tried to fight out of it, but they continued to tack on. They were the better team today.”

Blake Williams receives the loss after four innings of work, but he only allowed one hit, walking five on the day.

“Blake threw hard,” his coach said.

“We didn’t make many plays behind him. We definitely beat ourselves today.”

Despite the loss, Nordonia still leads the Suburban League National Division with a 4-0 record against division opponents and Aurora (6-1, 5-1) is certainly in the hunt for the top spot in the American Division, with its only loss coming against Highland.

Playing in a competitive conference like the Suburban League is something Hoisington feels benefits every team involved for the long run.

“I love the League,” Hoisington said.

“I can tell you, you have to bring your lunch every single day. You have to be ready to play because if you’re not, any team can beat you. I think this league is the best in Northeast Ohio and maybe even the best in the state.”

Aurora and Nordonia won’t see each other again in the regular season, but there’s a decent chance these two teams meet in the Playoffs and both teams will be keeping an eye on one another in the overall conference standings.

Next up, Aurora heads home for a non-conference doubleheader against Eastlake North on Saturday, April 15.

Nordonia returns to action on April 17, hosting Cuyahoga Falls in league play.

Watch video highlights of the game, courtesy of OhioSportsNet.