JOSHUA HUDSON
Star Beacon
May 14, 2008 03:31 am
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NILES — Pymatuning Valley’s Bryan Easton found himself in a familiar situation during Tuesday’s sectional semifinal against Newton Falls.
Easton had a chance to win a game Friday night, but struck out to end the game.
He didn’t let the same thing happen again.
Easton knocked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Lakers past the Tigers, 9-8, in a Division III sectional semifinal at Eastwood Field.
“It was a big game and I had to come through or we were gone,” Easton said. “He was throwing a lot of curves and he threw me a fastball. I think he made a mistake.”
That mistake lifted Pymatuning Valley (15-11) to a sectional championship matchup against Girard today at Todd Park.
But it looked like Newton Falls was about to pull an upset against the fourth-seeded Lakers.
The Tigers (3-13-1) scored four runs in the sixth inning to take an 8-5 lead. Two of those runs were knocked in off of squeeze plays by Tyler Kernen and Matt Lubonovick.
Newton Falls coach Rob Bauman said he had no problem calling consecutive squeeze plays, despite the fact he had two freshmen at the plate.
“They are still young and green enough that they don’t know any better,” he said. “They are going to have a couple more years of this, so I figured why not bunt with them.”
The Lakers got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Jon York’s RBI single knocked in Easton to cut the lead to 8-6 heading into the final inning.
That setup Easton’s last-inning heroics.
Chad Anthony struck out to lead off the inning, but the catcher dropped the ball and threw over the first baseman’s head. Eric Massie knocked him in with a RBI single to right field.
Newton Falls pitcher Jae Leeworthy looked like he might get out of the inning. He got the next two batters out before walking Mitch Berrier. Massie and Berrier each advanced a base on a wild pitch. Easton then lined a single into left field to knock in Massie and Berrier.
Lakers coach Steve Urchek said he was happy to see Easton come through with the winning hit.
“It was nice to see him come through in that situation,” he said. “He has come up with a lot of big hits for us in the past. He has caught big touchdowns in football and is just a talented athlete. I just can’t say enough about his determination.”
Travis Kume, York and Easton each had two hits to lead the Lakers. York and Easton also added two RBIs, while Kyle Kiser had a triple.
Brandon Easton picked up the win in relief for Pymatuning Valley. He struck out three and walked two in 21⁄3 innings.
Aaron Walker had three hits for the Tigers. Jae Leeworthy and Lubonovick each added two hits. Leeworthy was tagged with the loss after two innings of work. He struck out two and allowed two runs.
“You can’t win when you give teams four or five outs in an inning,” Bauman said. “We are going to learn and we will see where we are at in two to three years. We got a long way to go, but time is all it’s going to take.”
Hudson is the assistant sports editor for the Tribune Chronicle (Warren).
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