by Austintown, Ohio – The Alliance Aviators, fresh off clinching the Eastern Buckeye Conference championship, overcame a slow start to defeat host Austintown Fitch, 9-5.
The Falcons scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. Carter Owens drew a one-out walk, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jack Knight drew a hit-by-pitch to put Fitch ahead, 1-0. Donovan Bell-Sullivan chopped one to the right side of the infield that was touched in fair territory. This scored Jackson Cheeks and increased the lead to 2-0.
Alliance cut the deficit in half in the top of the second. Freshman infielder Bo Davis reached on an error at short. K’Vaughn Davis hit a single to right to advance Davis to third. After a strikeout, Carter Bugara rapped a single to left, scoring Davis and put the Aviators on the board.
Drew Kaschak hit a triple to right field in the bottom of the second, and Carter Owens brung him home with a sacrifice fly to deep center. This would increase the Fitch lead to 3-1.
Alliance responded when sophomore catcher Ryan Bruni hit a solo shot to left center to cut the Aviator deficit to 3-2.
The Aviator offense went back to work in the top of the fourth inning. Bo Davis led off with a double to right field. He advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a Sam Gress single to left field, knotting the score at 3.
With two outs and the bases loaded, sophomore Michael Blackwell tripled to right field. This brought home all three runners and put Alliance out front, 6-3.
Fitch responded in the bottom of the fourth, as Drew Kaschak drew a walk with two outs. Kaschak scored from first thanks to a Carter Owens triple to center field, cutting the Falcon deficit to 6-4.
Rome Biggers led off the top of the fifth with a single for Alliance, but was thrown out trying to advance to second on a wild pitch. After Bo Davis drew a one-out walk and advanced to second, K’Vaughn Davis doubled to left field. This scored Davis and increased the lead to 7-4. Sam Gress followed with his second RBI single to score Davis and increase the lead to 8-4.
Bo Davis came on in relief for starting pitcher Eric Bennett in the bottom of the fifth and worked a 1-2-3 inning.
Alliance added to their lead in the top of the sixth.
Ryan Bruni led off with a single to center and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Rome Biggers followed with an RBI single to right to score Bruni, making the score 9-4.
Austintown Fitch scored a run in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a bases-loaded walk from Chase Lombard. However, Davis got a couple of grounders to secure the victory for Alliance.
Alliance (18-3) hosts Canton GlenOak on Wednesday, May 10th.
Austintown Fitch (10-8) hosts Ursuline on Wednesday, May 10th.
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