High school baseball: Cloverleaf loses, falls half-game behind Field in MAC standings

BRIMFIELD TWP. — The Cloverleaf baseball team had an opportunity to give itself breathing room in the Metro Athletic Conference race Thursday evening, but the Field Falcons upended those plans. Field, ranked 15th in the state in Division II by the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association at the start of the week, overcame an early deficit and ran away with a 7-3 victory to move a half-game ahead of the Colts in the MAC standings. "We have all the respect in the world for Coach (Joel) Peterson and that program over there," Cloverleaf coach Mark Kelly said. "There's a lot of baseball left and our message to the boys was we can't hang our heads." Cloverleaf (13-4, 8-1) has two games with fourth-place Streetsboro (11-5, 4-4) starting today, two with third-place Norton (8-8, 6-2) next week and one with fifth-place Coventry (6-10, 4-4). Field (15-3, 9-1) has two games with Coventry and two with sixth-place Woodridge (2-11, 2-6). "We still have 100% focus on the rest of our season," senior Logan Tierney said. "We're going to get over it and be ready for the rest of our games remaining. So far this season, we've been very successful when everyone's playing for each other, and that's what we're going to have to do to lead to more success for us." Falcons junior pitcher Griffin Ailes kept Cloverleaf off-balance for most of the evening, throwing 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, one earned, on five hits and two walks while striking out 11. The Colts beat Ailes 5-1 in their first meeting. "Today, (Ailes) really came to shove and he had the mindset that he wasn't going to let us take it easy," said Justin George, who singled in the fourth and scored after being hit by a pitch in the seventh. "We ended up falling behind and we couldn't get our timing in our at-bats. Kudos to him. He pitched a helluva game." The Colts jumped ahead early after Ailes surrendered his only two walks of the game, to Ashton Newton and Tierney with one out in the top of the first. Two batters later, both runners scored on designated hitter Jeremy Cottrell's ground ball to shortstop Caden Contant, whose throw short-hopped first baseman Matt Hall with two outs. Ailes got Field's offense going in the bottom of the third, when his single into left field plated leadoff hitter Braxton Baumberger. Two batters later, Ailes scored the go ahead run on a two-out, two-run double by Bryson Silveus, putting the Falcons up 3-2. The Falcons got another big two-out hit in the fourth, when Contant drove in Xander Rorrer and Garrit Greene with a base hit to make the score 5-2. "They got some timely hits and hats off to them," Kelly said. "They had some two-out runs and played good situational baseball there." Field stacked on two more runs in the fifth. Designated hitter Ryan Bower led off with a hit that glanced off Tierney's glove at shortstop. Pinch-runner Gavin Greene then came around to score on two wild pitches and Silveus scored on a squeeze play by Mason Andexler. Cloverleaf mounted a rally in the seventh. Following George being plunked, Griffin Petrocci picked up a one-out single and leadoff hitter Tyler Biskup drove an RBI base hit into left-center field that put runners on the corners. The Falcons brought Contant into pitch and he forced Newton, who singled in the third inning, to line out to second baseman Andexler, who doubled up Biskup to end the game. Contact John Urchek at sports@medina-gazette.com. Field 7, Cloverleaf 3 CLOVERLEAF 200 000 1 — 3 5 1 FIELD &emsp;&emsp;003 220 x — 7 7 1 WP — Griffin Ailes (4-2) 6 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts. LP — Drew Schreck (5-1) 3 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned, 3 walks, 1 strikeout. S — Caden Contant 2/3 inning, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts. Cloverleaf (13-4, 8-1). Field (15-3, 9-1) — Caden Contant single, walk, run, 2 RBIs; Bryson Silveus double, hit by pitch, run, 2 RBIs; Xander Rorrer double, run.