LORAIN, Ohio (March 31, 2025) -- Senior hurler Michael Perry froze the Titans bats, and the Pirate offense heated up over the latter innings, as Rocky River defeated Lorain 7-1 Monday.
Perry, who last spring earned second-team all-Great Lakes Conference honors when he registered a 2.22 ERA in 47-1/3 innings pitched, opened his senior season in style, going the route and yielding just one hit in the seven-inning non-conference battle. He filed five 1-2-3 innings, including the fifth, sixth, and seventh frames, and threw 64-of-93 pitches (69%) for strikes. The Titans' lone run came on a two-out rally -- a walk and a double -- in the bottom of the third. He closed out the weather-and-good-pitching-chilled contest by striking out the side in the seventh and finished with 15 punch-outs against just two walks.
Perry's fine pitching was matched much of the way by Lorain starter Tracy Hough. The Pirates (1-1) got to Hough for a solo marker in the third, but he pounded the strike zone (61 strikes on 80 pitches) and kept his squad in a one-run ball game until the River Raiders got six runs (four off Hough) from the fifth inning on. Hough finished with five runs (three earned) allowed on eight hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out one.
The late life for the Rocky River offense came from all corners of the batting order, but it started with a fifth-inning double by No. 8-hitter Jackson Powe. The sophomore right fielder's two-bagger conspired with an Elliot Hibshman single, two Titan errors, a wild pitch, and some Buccaneer thievery on the bags to produce three runs. And that jolted a 1-1 contest into a 4-1 River lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.
The three-run cushion would be plenty with the veteran Perry dealing on the mound. The Sons of Blackbeard got an insurance run in the sixth when No. 5-batter registered a lead-off double and came around to score. Two more were tacked on in manufactured fashion in the seventh.
For the game, River outhit Lorain 9-1. Griffin Hill and Tovissi each ledgered two-hit games. The Pirates went 4-of-11 with runners in scoring position.
by Skip Snow
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