by Canton, OH- In what might go down as the most bizarre game of the OHSAA baseball season, Holy Name took down Canton South 5-1 behind a dominant performance on the mound from Harrison Frank.
The top of the first inning was normal. Joe Svetz, Adam Humenik, and Nick Nemeth all flew out as the Namers went in order. After Frank struck out Camden Brooks, Tre Wilson hit the ball into left field for a base hit. Frank then threw a ball to Poochie Snyder to give him a 1-0 count as Wilson stole second. What happens after this? A light rumble from over the softball field. The home plate umpire immediately threw his hands up and called for a 15-minute delay.
I then took a little stroll down to the Holy Name dugout to talk to the team and figure out what was going to happen. The sky then lets out another bang, leading to the umpires telling the teams to take shelter. Just after this, BOOM! The arguably loudest rumble of thunder I’ve ever heard was accompanied by a bright flash of lightning. At this point, the team is almost to the far field house that connects to Canton South’s football stadium and a decent amount of my broadcasting equipment was still up. Long story short, with the help of the Green Wave’s left fielder Michael Oleksik’s dad, we packed everything up and joined the team in the fieldhouse.
It was there that HN’s coach Mike Masetta and CS’ coach Kody Edwards agreed to postpone the game until the following day. Fast forward to this morning, I got an email from Coach Edwards saying, “Sun is shining, field is ready to go. We’re playing baseball today!”
Back to the action, Wilson stole third to begin day two of the contest. This led to Snyder hitting a sacrifice fly out to center field, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Shafer would ground out to end the inning only 24 hours after it began. The second inning went by quickly. Both Frank and Shafer trusted in their defenses, leading to each side posting 1-2-3 innings.
The third inning is where the ballgame completely changed. Brendon Preisel led off the inning with a base hit between third base and shortstop. Mikey Tworzydlo then bunted Preisel over into scoring position at the expense of him being retired at first—or so we thought. Alleged runner interference caused Tworzydlo to be out which led to Preisel being forced to head back to first. Surprisingly, this exact scenario would repeat itself in the bottom of the sixth for the Wildcats. Oleksik then came up to bat and recorded a base hit. Svetz followed suit as he earned his first playoff hit to load the bases. Humenik then stepped back into the box, looking to tie the game back up. With a 3-2 count, he left the pitch upstairs and tied the game up with an RBI walk. The second run of the game would come on a balk with Nemeth down in the count 1-2. The sophomore then changes the ball game once again as he hits a two-RBI single into left field to extend the Namer lead to 4-1. The final run of the inning came courtesy of a passed ball, giving HN a 5-1 lead to take into the fourth.
Canton South was unable to reply in the third as they went in order. It would not be until the bottom of the fourth that Snyder recorded their first hit of day two. This double would be the final career hit for him as the arguable “GOAT” of Stark County and Canton South Football added one final stat to his impressive resume. Grady Cardes would ground out to second base to end the game in the bottom of the seventh after a few more Wildcat hits as Holy Name would win it 5-1.
The Green Wave are back in the district tournament after a one-year hiatus. HN has battled adversity all year and now are playing their best baseball when it matters most. They now are 8-17 on the campaign with three of those wins coming in the last three games. Coach Masetta says the reason for this success is repetition. His team will now have the tough task of taking down the number two seeded St Vincent St Mary Fighting Irish. On April 13, STVM took down Holy Name 6-3 at Skeeles Field. This time around, it’s at a neutral site and it’s win or go home. That game will be on Monday, May 20th at 2:30 PM in Twinsburg.
Canton South Key Players
#2 Poochie Snyder: 1-2, Double, Sac Fly, RBI
#4 Tre Wilson: 1-2, Walk, 2 SB
#29 AJ Pierson: 4.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 6 K’s, 1-3
Holy Name Key Players
#8 Harrison Frank: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 K’s, Win
#14 Nick Nemeth: 1-3, 2 RBI, 4 defensive putouts
#32 Joe Svetz: 1-2, HBP, 4 defensive putouts
Player of the Game: Harrison Frank
Massive shoutout to Poochie Snyder for an amazing athletic career at Canton South! Good luck to him at Sacred Heart next year and good luck to all of Canton South’s senior class in their future endeavors!
