Baseball: Big third inning lifts Hall past Sterling

STERLING – A five-run third inning turned the tide for Hall in Tuesday’s nonconference road game against Sterling. With all of the momentum on their side, the Red Devils went on to win 6-3 under the lights at Gartner Park.

Sterling took its only lead of the game at 1-0 in the bottom of the second; Ayden Schoon hit a one-out single to start things off, then reached third on a Trevor Dir double before stealing home during Braden Birdsley’s at-bat as the Hall catcher attempted to pick off Dir at second.

But the Red Devils were quick to answer. In the top of the third, they scored five runs on two big hits. Ashton Pecher scored Mac Resetich and Payton Dye for the tying and go-ahead runs on a two-run double to left-center, before he was forced out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.

“It got us going,” Pecher said about the early runs. “It gave our pitching relief that we were up 5-1, and we just kept going from there and doing what we could.”

“It gave us a good jump on them because, obviously, if we score first, we have a pretty good chance to keep the lead,” Resetich said. “So jumping on them and getting up early [helped a lot].”

After two singles and a walk loaded the bases, Max Bryant ripped a two-out, three-run triple to right-center; Dye, Hunter Meagher and Evan Stefaniak rounded the bases as Hall went up 5-1.

“The bases were loaded, I was just trying to put the ball in play and make the defense do the work,” Bryant said about his approach to the at-bat. “But I guess I saw a pitch right down the middle and decided, ‘Oh, this is pretty good for a gap shot.’ And I got lucky.”

The Red Devils stretched their lead to 6-1 in the top of the fifth as Dom Galetti smacked an RBI single to third to bring in Joel Koch.

Sterling cut it to 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth when a Gio Cantu two-run double to center scored Braden Hartman and Schoon. The Warriors had a chance to cut into the deficit even more with Cantu on second and Dir on third with one out, but Hall forced out Dir on a double-steal attempt, and Dye notched the final strikeout to preserve the three-run lead.

“Overall, defensively, I think we played really good. I think we had one mistake, but it didn’t really cost us anything. They hit the ball – you can’t really do much of anything about that,” Cantu said. “Overall, our hitting was a lot better – especially mine. I’ve been struggling around the plate for a little bit until tonight, when I hit the ball into left field, then I finally got over the outfielder’s head and I felt really good. I felt more confident, felt better in my swing. I’ve been doing really good at BP, but whenever I got up in the box, it was anxiety maybe. But now I feel good, now I feel like I can hit a ball. I feel great.”

After conceding a leadoff double to Dylan Ottens in the bottom of the seventh, Dye tossed two strikeouts around a flyout to seal the win.

Schoon went 2 for 3 and scored two runs, and Cantu was 1 for 3 with the two-run double.

Sterling’s Mason Smithee struck out four batters, walked one and allowed two hits over two scoreless innings of relief of starter Bryce Hartman. Dir struck out one batter, walked three, and allowed one unearned run on zero hits in two innings of relief.

“[I think we’re responding to adversity] a lot better. I think we’re just staying in the game more if they get runs [early on],” Cantu said. “Usually, [earlier in the season] we just kind of sat down, didn’t really play the game. And today, someone had a spark and we kept going, kept moving. Yeah, they’re a good hitting team, can’t really do anything about that, but I think we competed a lot better.”

Bryant and Pecher each went 2 for 4; Bryant had the three-run triple and Pecher had the two-run double. Resetich and Meagher also had two hits each for the Red Devils.

Izzaq Zrust pitched the first three innings for Hall, allowing three hits and one run, and striking out five with one walk. Braden Curran took the mound for the middle 2 1/3 innings, and Dye finished the final 1 2/3 innings.

“That’s the effort we need. The pitchers came out and threw strikes; that’s all you really need to do at this level,” Resetich said. “And obviously, no errors. Everything was good.”

“They just shoved,” Bryant added. “These two sophomores coming in, Izzaq and Braden, they really did their job and really contributed to our team.”