CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Rocky River's season came to an end Monday, as the Pirates were edged by the Benedictine Bengals in district bracket play as part of the 2002 DII OHSAA Tournament. A four-run Benedictine third lifted the host Bengals to an eventual 6-5 victory.
The Pirates (6-14) -- the No. 24-seed in the DII Richfield District Tournament -- found themselves down 5-0 after the Bengal outburst in that third stanza. Benedictine scored its four runs in the third when five straight batters reached against River starter Ethan White.
But the Baseball Buccaneers battled back in the contest at historic League Park. The fourth inning was a successful 1-for-2 exchange, with a Thomas Rossi double keying the pair of runs for the visitors.
The Maroon & White trailed 6-2 when they came to the plate in the top of the fifth. Rocky River batted around in that inning, leveraging a triple by Joshua Mommers and a single by Nate Mitchell alongside three walks and some good base running. Mommers, Anthony Ferchill, and Gavin O'Brien dented the plate for River's third, fourth, and fifth runs of the contest.
But the River fifth ended with the bases full of Pirates. And stranded base runners against Bengal hurlers Nate Zavoda (four innings pitched, two runs allowed on four hits and two walks, with one strikeout) and AJ Slemc (3 IP, 6H, 3R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO) would be a familiar refrain for the River Nine. The Pirates left nine runners on base and went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
White (6.2 IP, 5H, 6R, 4 BB, 2 SO) and Wissman (0.2 IP, 0H, 0R) combined to hold the Bengals scoreless over the fifth and sixth innings. River managed a pair of sixth-inning singles and a seventh-frame walk, but none of those runners made it home to tie the game, and the Pirates were sent down to their fourth one-run defeat of the season.
Slemc, Max Young, and Dawson Williams, Jr., each tallied two hits for the No. 23-seed Benedictine squad, which now advances to a Wednesday game at No. 15 Cloverleaf.
Rocky River, which outhit the Bengals 10-8, got three hits from Mommers and two from Mitchell. Ferchill went 1-for-3, clocking his team-leading fourth triple of the season. O'Brien reached base three times on a single and two walks; he closed out the 2022 campaign with a robust .484 on-base percentage. And Braedon Spies went 1-for-3 while notching his team-leading 21st RBI of the spring.
"It wasn't quite enough today, but I liked the effort the guys showed and the way they played for each other," said coach Darryl Sanders. "We played solid baseball down the stretch, and that bodes well for the future of this program."
CANNON FIRE ...
SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREAK: Thomas Rossi closed out the 2022 season on an eight-game hit streak. Rossi batted an even .400 (24-of-40) for the season, with six doubles, three triples, a home run, 19 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and 18 runs scored. He finished first in a tight, three-man race for top OPS (on-base plus slugging) on the team. Rossi logged an 1.161 OPS, edging out Braedon Spies (1.148) and Anthony Ferchill (1.126).
LAST LICKS: Anthony Ferchill's triple marked his 10th extra-base hit of the 2022 season, which tied Thomas Rossi for the team lead. Ferchill hit .377/.519/.607 (batting/on-base/slugging) for the season.
SWASHBUCKLING PIRATE: In a game in which he went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly, Bradeon Spies ended his season with a single in his last at-bat. The hit closed out his senior campaign with a team-high .420 batting average. The contest closed out a tremendous all-around prep athletic career for Spies, who earned a combined 11 varsity letters for River Baseball, Football, and Basketball.
by Skip Snow
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