High school baseball: Wild rally gives Brunswick win over Strongsville

BRUNSWICK — If Brunswick senior Jacob Dye is looking for a career after graduation, he might want to consider horse whispering. For the second straight season, Dye broke the Strongsville Mustangs with a walk-off hit. His seventh-inning single gave the Blue Devils a highly improbable 10-9 victory Monday over their Greater Cleveland Conference rivals. "I was in the same exact situation as sophomore year (in 2019) and just wanted to try to put the ball in play," Dye said. "I knew I needed to hit something kind of to the right side or deep to drive him in. Thank God I did that, because now my confidence is a lot higher." Dye drove in fellow senior Josh Kross to complete a five-run rally, including four runs in the seventh inning and three runs with Brunswick (9-7, 7-0) down to its final out. Two batters before Dye came to the plate, Kross ripped a two-run double into left field to tie the game by bringing in No. 9 batter Shane Frimel and leadoff hitter Jacob Mancini. The Mustangs (9-5, 4-3) intentionally walked senior Sean Kidd between Kross and Dye. "We had a bad inning with a couple of errors, but we didn't quit," Kross said. "We just came back and showed them what we're actually made of. My coach (Grant Relic) came over to me and said, 'If they leave one over the plate just take a normal swing and let the ball do the work.' It did the work, got a tying run and (Dye) came up behind me and got a base hit to drive me in." The bottom of the seventh began with the Blue Devils trailing 9-6, but junior Jake Gorecki kicked off the rally by drawing a one-out walk. Frimel and Mancini followed with base hits to left, with Gorecki scoring on Mancini's single. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak and keeps the Blue Devils undefeated and in first place in the GCC. It also drops third-place Strongsville and Solon three games behind Brunswick. The Comets lost 3-0 to second-place Medina (9-5, 6-1) Monday. "It feels awesome because we lost two straight coming into this and we knew we needed to get back on track," Dye said. "We have the tournament coming up in a couple of weeks and we knew this would be the perfect time to get back on track against our rivals." The Brunswick rally followed a disastrous top of the sixth for the Blue Devils. Strongsville scored six runs on five hits and two errors to take a 9-5 lead. Mustangs senior Adam Hartman began the rally with a leadoff single and scored on a bunt single by Maddux Beard and subsequent error on the play. Hartman then finished the inning with a two-out, two-run single, plating senior Matt Stroemple and junior Mitch Szymczak. Dye, who also scored in the second inning, had a sacrifice fly that brought in senior Jake Scherette to make it a three-run game going to the seventh. Scherette got the win with two relief innings, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks. "Any time Brunswick and Strongsville get together, you know it's going to be a battle until the end," Relic said. "It was nice to see our guys not quit after they put up six there in the top of the sixth inning, and it was nice to see us bounce back after a couple sluggish games. We continuously talk about not giving up, sticking together and keep up the fight." Kross led the Blue Devils with three hits, including a double, two runs and two RBIs. Matt Bottger also had a big day with a single, double, run and RBI. Contact John Urchek at sports@medina-gazette.com. Brunswick 10, Strongsville 9 STRONGSVILLE &emsp;&emsp;011 016 0 — 9 13 3 BRUNSWICK &emsp;&emsp;011 121 4 — 10 15 3 Two outs when winning run scored. WP — Jake Scherette (1-1) 2 innings, 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned, 2 walks, strikeout. LP — Aidan Cunningham 1 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts. Strongsville (9-5, 4-3) — Mitch Szymczak 2 doubles, walk, 3 runs; Connor Chupek double, RBI; Adam Hartman 3 singles, run, 2 RBIs; Cunningham 2 singles, 2 RBIs. Brunswick (9-7, 7-0) — Jacob Mancini 2 singles, run, RBI; Jake Scherette 3 singles, 2 runs; Josh Kross 2 singles, double, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Jacob Dye single, run, 2 RBIs; Matt Bottger single, double, run, RBI; Shane Frimel 2 singles, run.