by Kent, Ohio – Freshman pitcher Jake Gerring threw six shutout innings Friday afternoon, propelling the Field Falcons to victory over the West Branch Warriors, 7-0, in the David Starkey Memorial Classic at Kent State University.
The Falcons scored two in the first inning and four in the fourth off West Branch starting pitcher Donavin Conrad. Senior third baseman Carter Baumgartner would cap off the scoring with a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning for the final margin.
“It’s really big to win a game at the end of my senior year. This is a big win against a good program for us. I think my teammates did really well. We battled through and put up perfect numbers in the end, got the win. I’m really excited going forward into week and going into the tournament.” said Baumgartner.
“It feels really good. Definitely can’t do it without my infield. Can’t thank them enough for stopping those balls. I had a great defense behind me.” said Gerring.
After the win today, Field head coach Joe Peterson talked about being intentional towards getting his team geared up for the postseason.
“We’ve been talking about being intentional. Everything is geared towards that sectional final game of next week. We are being intentional about everything possible to play at a playoff baseball level. It needs to be ramped up, and everything needs to be right on point. The ability to not execute on small things will hurt you in playoff baseball.” said Peterson.
For West Branch, it was a disappointing way to finish out the regular season going into tournament play.
“Well, I’ll be honest with you, I’m disappointed today. That was something we focused on this week. League play’s over. The regular season’s over. Last night we lost by one (to South Range), but saw two really good pitchers as far as seeing arms we’re gonna have for the postseason. We’re a young team, but I didn’t like the way we competed today.” said West Branch head coach Rick Mulinix. “We’ve had that issue a couple of times where we’ll win seven in a row, then lose three in a row and lose focus for a few days. I’m banking on the fact that we’re young and hopefully we’ll grow with experience, but unfortunately, we didn’t show up to play today.” he added.
Field improves to 15-8 overall and takes on New Philadelphia in a neutral site matchup Saturday afternoon at Lake Center Christian High School.
West Branch drops to 16-11 overall and hosts Youngstown East in a sectional semifinal in the Struthers District in Division II.
