PETROLIA, Pa. — Marcus Lantz and Nolan Riley came up with key two-out hits in the bottom of the fifth inning to help Karns City break a 1-all tie on its way to a 5-3 win over Cranberry in the District 9 Class AA semifinals at the Fairview Township Field.
(Photo of Karns City’s Marcus Lantz. Photo by Mike Schnelle. Check out more of Schnelle’s work here.)
Lantz’s single to left scored Evan Stitt from second to break the tie, and two batters later Riley laced a triple off the outstretched glove of rightfielder Nick Varsek that cleared the bases to put the Gremlins up 5-1.
Lantz and Riley discuss their day.
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Cranberry, the third seed, tried to rally in the top of the seventh with a two-run Tyler Gustafson double scoring Evan Lutz and Austin Rex. But Holden Martin got Brandon Zerbe to look at strike three, Jake Felmlee to groundout to shortstop before Nolan Brannon hit a high chopper off Martin’s glove that shortstop Stitt picked and threw to first to get the sliding Brannon for the final out.
“We finally able to come up with the big hit with runners on base,” Cranberry manager Pat Irwin said about the seventh-inning rally. “That was one of the things we kind of struggled with today. We got runners on base and left them there.”
The fateful fifth didn’t look like much of a rally at the start of the inning for Karns City, as Martin struck out.
But Stitt followed with a walk, one of eight free passes issued by Zerbe, the Cranberry starter and the losing pitcher.
“I don’t know if there is one thing you can pinpoint (Zerbe’s lack of control) on,” Irwin said. “Brendan threw the pitches and got the outs when we needed to. He threw really well through four and some change.”
After issuing the walk to Stitt, Zerbe, who ended up giving up five runs, four earned, on three hits and eight walks while striking out six in 4 ⅓ innings of work, got Cullen Williams to fly out to right field.
But Stitt, one of the fastest players in District 9, stole second and came around to score when Lantz singled to left.
Lantz took second on the throw to the plate, but that didn’t look like it would matter when Hunter Schaffner hit a high chopper of the plate that Zerbe tried to field. But the senior righty couldn’t quite get a firm grip on the ball putting runners on first and third thanks to the base hit.
Zerbe then walked Jimmy Thompson, and Irwin had seen enough. He summoned his shortstop, Tylor Ziegler, to the mound.
But Riley greeted Ziegler with the deep drive to right that was just out of the reach of Varsek clearing the bases and opening the lead up.
“It’s one of the amazing things about the game and one of the things that makes you want to pull out the little bit of hair you have left,” Irwin said about the game of inches
Cranberry grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Rex walked with one out, went to third on a single into the right-center gap by Gustafson and scored on a single through the hole on the right side by Zerbe.
But Martin avoided further damage when he got Jake Felmlee to ground into a 5-3 double play, one of four double plays in the first three innings by the two teams combined — two a side.
The Berries then put runners on first and second with one out in the second, but Varsek lined into a double play to shortstop Stitt, who was able to flip to second to get Brannon, who was caught in no-man’s land.
“Any time you can get a lead and build on a lead, you certainly want to do that,” Irwin said. “It kind of is what it is. That’s been one of our pitfalls this year when struggled, leaving guys on base.”
Karns City was able to tie the game in the third despite not getting a hit.
The Gremlins took advantage of three Zerbe walks and an error on Ziegler. The third of the walks was a bases-loaded free base to Stitt that tied the game with one out.
Zerbe, however, got out of the jam by getting Williams to hit into a double play.
Cranberry looked like it might take the lead back in the fourth loading the bases with one out, but a Varsek fly ball to right wasn’t deep enough to score Felmlee and Evan Lutz popped up to Martin ending the inning.
Karns City returned the favor by leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth.
The Gremlins loaded them up with one out, but Zerbe got an out at the plate on a comebacker by Eric Dodd and then induced a groundout to second by Jace Ebbitt.
Karns City, the second seed, finished with five hits , including two from Riley, who also drew a walk. Stitt walked twice and had a single while stealing two bases.
Gustafson had a pair of its, including the double, for Cranberry, while Ziegler was 3-for- and Rex 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored.
Martin went the distance allowing three earned runs on 11 hits and two walks while striking out six.
Ziegler threw 1 ⅓ allowing two hits, including the Riley triple, while walking two and striking out two for Cranberry.
Karns City (15-5) will face Moniteau in the title game most likely June 1 at a site and time to be determined. Cranberry ends the season 10-7.
