NEFFS — Bellaire is a young baseball team on the rise. Unfortunately for the Big Reds they were tasked Monday afternoon with taking on always-potent St. Clairsville.

The end result was as expected — an 18-2 Red Devils’ triumph at beautiful John Blacker Field.

In the process, Coach Tom Sliva’s well-drilled charges won for the fifth time against just a single blemish. St. Clairsville is scheduled to return to action today against Wheeling Park.

Bellaire, which has dealt with a brutal early season schedule, is idle today and will take on the same Red Devils Wednesday.

St. Clairsville rode the strong pitching of Ryan Ivey combined with a 16-hit attack en route to the win. The Red Devils boarded 11 runs in the final three innings, including seven in the last frame.

Ivey worked the first six innings to pocket the mound win. He was sharp as he allowed just five hits while striking out seven and walking only two.

Nico Jacob took over in the seventh and retired three straight Big Reds, one via the strikeout route.

“Ryan was very effective tonight,” Silva said. “He battled very well and was in command of his pitches. I am very happy with his effort.

“When you score 18 runs and have 16 hits it’s obviously a nice night at the plate,” added the Hall of Fame mentor. “We scored early and built on the lead every inning. We hit the ball well up and down the lineup.”

The visitors scored one run in the opening inning, on a bases-loaded walk coaxed by Colton Florence. The Red Devils never looked back.

St. Clairsville pushed across four more runs in the second frame.

Jaxson Starks and Caiden Bailey opened the inning with singles before Roby Hanna delivered a single, plating Starks. Senior standout Brody Saunders – an Ashland diamond commit – produced another RBI single. Florence drilled yet another run-scoring single before Saunders scored on a wild pitch.

St. Clairsville pushed its lead to 7-0 in the fourth before Bellaire broke through in the home-half of the fourth.

Landon Preston reached on an error and advanced on a wild pitch. He scored on a Brae Schmidli single. Hunter Watson lined a single before Scott Balsei singled to load the bases. Grant Vasey plated Schmidli with a single. Ivey, however, was able to work out of the one-out bases-loaded jam by recording a strikeout and inducing a popup.

Bellaire would not threaten again as Ivey and Jacob retired the next nine Big Reds in order.

Bailey led the St. Clairsville attack with four singles while Starks had three singles. Hanna, Saunders, Florence and Jacob all banged out two hits for the winners. Florence accounted for five RBI.

“I am happy with where we are at at this point but it is still early,” Sliva said. “We graduated a very good class but we have a nice mixture of experience and young kids. Park will be a good test for us.”

Bellaire trotted out four pitchers to the mound.

Balsei started and gave way to Riley Zonker in the third. Hunter Watson took over in the fifth while Levi Bell worked the seventh. The quartet combined for six strikeouts and eight walks.

“We competed well for the first four innings and then things got away from us,” Bellaire head coach Bailey McGrath offered. “But St. Clairsville has a great program and are very well-coached. They are very good year-in and year-out.

“Our schedule has been brutal. It doesn’t get any easier for a while,” added the former Bridgeport athletic standout. “It didn’t show tonight but we have improved from a year ago. We just need a few more wins to boost our confidence.”

Zonker had the biggest blast of the night for Bellaire as he crushed a double to deep left center.