by Struthers, Ohio – Garrettsville Garfield defeated Kirtland, 11-1, in five innings at Bob Cene Park to advance to the district finals for the first time since 2009.
Brandyn Bogucki got things started with a pop-up single on the infield. He stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. He scored on a fielders’ choice groundout from Eric Geddes, putting the G-Men up 1-0.
After starting pitcher Eric Geddes worked a scoreless bottom of the first, the G-Men offense got back to work in the top of the second.
Carter Bates reached on an error at first base. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Alex Carter followed with a bunt single to put runners at the corners.
Brandyn Bogucki hit an RBI single to left field to increase the lead to 2-0. Jackson Sommer followed with a sac fly to left to increase the lead to 3-0. Ian Hunt scored on an errant pickoff attempt at third base to make the score 4-0.
The two starters, Gino Blasini (Kirtland) and Eric Geddes (Garrettsville Garfield) eached worked a 1-2-3 third.
The G-Men got their offense going with a two-out rally in the top of the fourth. Jackson Sommer reached on an error at first base, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
He scored on an RBI double to left field from Eric Geddes, increasing the lead to 5-0. Vinnie Grandizio followed up with an RBI single to left to score Geddes, increasing the lead to 6-0.
Eric Geddes set down the first ten batters he faced before sophomore Tyler Turk hit a single into no-mans’ land in right center field for the first Hornet hit of the game. Luke Chuko followed with a single to put runners at first and second. He induced a flyout to right from the next hitter, and a grounder to first to get out of the inning.
Relief pitcher Trip Thaler struck out the first two batters he faced in the top of the fifth inning. Alex Carter hit a single to right field and Ian Hunt followed with a single to left. Brandyn Bogucki hit an RBI single to left field to score Carter, increasing the lead to 7-0. A wild pitch advanced both runners, and Jackson Sommer walked to load the bases. Eric Geddes reached on an error at short to score Hunt, making the lead 8-0.
Vinnie Grandizio followed with an error at short that scored Bogucki and Sommer, increasing the lead to 10-0. Geddes would score on a wild pitch to increase the G-Men lead to 11-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, Casey Karkhoff reached on a popup that was lost in the lights. He advanced all the way to third on a errant pick-off throw. Will Bates followed with an RBI groundout to score Karkhoff and put the Hornets on the board.
After a walk, a fly-ball ended the game by run rule, ending the ball game.
Garrettsville Garfield improves to 21-6 and will take on Lakeview in the Division III Struthers District final on Wednesday, May 24th. The Bulldogs advanced thanks to a 6-0 victory over Perry, helped by a four-run bottom of the sixth inning. Akron commit Gino Lazzari pitched five shutout innings.
Kirtland finished their season at 19-7.
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