STEUBENVILLE - Edison and Big Red delivered yet another outstanding high school baseball game Saturday, the Wildcats pulling out a tense 5-4 win to claim the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Class 4A championship.
The perennial powers both sent quality pitchers to the hill at chilly Vacarro Field - Mark Smyth for Edison and JoJo Pierro for Big Red. The difference proved to be a bases-loaded bounding ball in the home half of the fourth inning.
Edison found itself trailing 4-2 after Big Red scored three times in the top of the frame. Things weren't looking good either as Pierro quickly retired the first two Wildcat hitters.
Koby Sronce drew a two-out walk and immediately stole second. He moved to third on Chad Wickham's single. If not for a diving stop by Bryan Pierro, Big Red's shortstop, Sronce would have scored on the hit.
Josh Pasek followed Wickham to the plate and delivered a RBI base hit. Greg Stagani worked JoJo Pierro for a free pass to fill the bases with Wildcats. Smyth then hit the bounding ball that resulted in a Big Red fielding miscue and allowed Pasek and Wickham to scamper home with what proved to be the winning runs.
Smyth dominated in the fifth and sixth innings and recorded a strikeout to start the seventh. He gave way to Stagani after Matt Petrella legged out an infield single. The fire-balling right hander whiffed the two batters he faced to record the save.
Class 5A
Cambridge pitcher Dillon Sonnafrank struck out eight of the first nine batters from Morgantown en route to the Bobcats' 9-6 victory at Vaccaro Field to win the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference champiosnhip Saturday.
Sonnafrank finished with 11 strikeouts and six walks. He issued free passes to the first two batters of the seventh inning and was replaced by lefthander R.J. Endly, who fanned three in a row to end the game.
Sonnafrank allowed four singles.
