by Kent, Ohio – The Barberton Magics picked up their second victory of the season, using a key five-run sixth to defeat host and previously unbeaten Kent Roosevelt, 10-5 on Thursday afternoon.
The Magics scored early and often, and led 5-0 after four innings. Kent Roosevelt would counter in their half of the fifth inning, scoring two runs off a bunt single and error, but couldn’t cut into the deficit any further.
Barberton would pull away in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded, junior starting pitcher Nick Plucinski would help out his own cause with a two-run single to left field to increase the lead to 7-2. They would add another run, taking advantage of an errant throw to third base after a successful steal attempt.
After an RBI groundout by senior infielder Brandon Seiler, senior Alex Stevenson would cap off the scoring with a long single to left-center field.
But the Rough Riders would not go quietly into the night, scoring three runs in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to the final margin. But their deficit was far too much to overcome in the end.
The Magics got contributions from senior center fielder and Notre Dame College football commit Gavin Krska and senior infielder Alex Stevenson, who each had three hits on the day, and pitcher Nick Plucinski, who threw a complete game, and had a couple of hits of his own.
“It feels nice to get a win. I’m just happy we won the game.” said Stevenson.
“We came together as a team, and I’m happy we got the win.” said Plucinski.
“First off, our focus was to score first. All the games we’ve been losing, we haven’t scored first to set the tone of the game. When we rallied together and got hits, it trickles down to the next person.” said Krska.
Barberton head coach Steve Fasig stated that he was really proud of the effort that his guys gave today.
“To be quite honest with you, we struggled this year.” said Fasig. “The big thing we talked about yesterday on our off day was body language. I thought we played with confidence from the beginning to the end, and it showed. Even when (Kent Roosevelt) bounced back and scored a couple of runs, our response was 100% indicative of what we were looking for today. I was really proud of the guys today.”
“Baseball’s a funny sport. Day to day it can be one of those things where it floats away from you and it doesn’t. Today we were 100% on it and were able to put it together.” he added.
The Magics improve to 2-8 overall and 2-3 in the Suburban League American Division. They travel to Canton GlenOak on Saturday afternoon.
“We’ve been playing really good baseball, and I think sometimes we look at our record and think too highly of ourselves, and that’s high school baseball.” said Kent Roosevelt head coach Michael Haney. “I want them to be confident and believe in themselves but tonight Barberton came out and competed, and (Plucinski) threw well. Another thing is that we made too many outs in the air. I think we made only a handful of groundball outs on the game. You can’t win that way. I’m glad we fought until the end, but it was a tough night for us.” he added.
The Rough Riders drop to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the Suburban League American Division. They travel to Massillon Perry Friday evening.
