High school baseball: Late push by Brookside falls short as Black River wins game, league

SHEFFIELD — Brookside may not have won the baseball title in the Lorain County League, but the Cardinals sure had a say in how it ended.Brookside helped Black River last Saturday by knocking off league-leading Keystone, giving the Pirates a shot at the outright league championship by having to beat those same Cardinals on Friday.The Pirates scored three runs early but had to withstand a late push by Brookside, which had the winning run on base in the seventh, but Black River got a great defensive play by catcher Jayce Hopek to end the game as the Pirates cinched the outright title with a 4-3 win."We all saw (the Cardinals) beat Keystone last Saturday and we knew we were in the driver's seat," said Pirates coach Jake O'Connor, whose team improved to 16-7 overall and 13-1 in the league. "I'm so proud of these guys for beating a Brookside team that always seems to be underrated. We knew they were going to give us a fight, and we just found a way to win."The game was dominated by both starting pitchers, who went the distance, as sophomore Josh Stuart got the win while striking out eight and walking three. Brookside starter Danny Fries, a junior, matched the strikeouts while allowing just one earned run."We have a great rivalry with Keystone, and we came into this game knowing that we did not want to share the championship with them," Stuart said. "I think Fries really dominated us today, there wasn't much that we could do, and their hitting just kept coming at us.""We've been playing so well all year, and we were able to battle with anyone and felt like we could win when we got on the field," Fries said. "Even when things weren't going our way today, we kept our heads up and kept fighting."The Cardinals (11-9, 9-5) had to fight, falling behind 3-0 in the third when Bryce Murray reached on a fielding error, Dom Bell walked, Hunter Mate reached on a fielder's choice and Stuart sent a run home with a single.Hopek drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center, and Carson Steidl singled up the middle to drive in the third run.The Cards were able to scratch out a run in their half of the third when Robby Jackman singled and came home on a swinging bunt by Trevor Kitzberger, who finished the game with three hits.After the three-run third, Fries only allowed one more Black River run. It came in the fifth after Stuart and Hopek drew one-out walks and Steidl drove home a run with a single to left to go up 4-2.Brookside, once again, came right back by getting two runs in the bottom of the inning as Easton Weber was hit by a pitch and Fries singled with one out.Kitzberger was involved in both runs coming home as he beat out a soft blooper over the pitcher's head and the throw to first got away, allowing Fries to score and cutting the lead to 4-3. The Cardinals could do no more damage.Brookside threatened to walk off a win after getting hits from Kitzberger and Austin Lara, but after a strikeout, the first pitch to Matthew Mahnke was in the dirt and Hopek was able to block the ball and pick off the runner at first to end the regular season with a title."I felt like we had a team that was capable of winning the conference this year and we just didn't have a few plays and games go our way and that's baseball," Cardinals coach Travis Baldwin said. "(Black River) just seems to make all the plays and get hits when they need them."Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.