High school baseball: Weather, darkness lead to suspended game between Wadsworth, Highland

WADSWORTH — Wadsworth starter Lucas Cowan and Highland counterpart Cooper Richnafsky were simply unbeatable Friday night. After the non-league baseball game began 33 minutes late due to distant thunder in warmups, neither southpaw blinked in throwing a combined 15 scoreless innings, leading to a 0-0 tie when play was suspended in the top of the 10th inning due to darkness with Casey Myser up to bat and Anthony DePompei on first base with one out for the Hornets. The teams are hoping to find a mutual free date to complete this game and play another. "That was very interesting," Cowan said. Cowan tossed eight innings, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out four. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior surrendered hits to the first two batters of the first and second innings but managed to work out of those jams. After the second inning, Highland didn't record a hit until Lucas Gerding doubled down the left-field line to lead off the seventh. In the first inning, Colton Winston singled to lead off but was later thrown out at home on a double steal attempt for the second out. Cowan struck out Dan Miller to end the threat. After singles by Nick Dobkowski and Cole Fernandez in the second, Gerding sacrificed the runners to second and third and Parker Janickas loaded the bases with a walk. Cowan fanned DePompei and forced Winston to fly out to center fielder Ryan Stoops. "I was in early trouble the first two innings, and then I realized what worked," Cowan said. "I really dialed in from the middle of the game and kept going. At the top of the lineup, I just kept it away from everyone so they wouldn't pull it." Richnafsky was every bit as impressive, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out two. He walked Stoops and Jason Copeland in the first but worked out of that jam by forcing Michael Cindia and Cowan to hit the ball to Janickas at second base. Richnafsky didn't allow a hit until Bentley Weick singled to start the third inning. One batter later, Weick was doubled off first when Brett Pelkey popped a bunt to Fernandez behind the plate. Periods of drizzle to heavy rain throughout the game were unable to faze either pitcher. "It was kind of hard to find the zone at first," Richnafsky said. "Once I settled down, I figured out the zone. Spin wasn't really there. I knew I could throw the fastball, and they weren't going to hit the ball hard." The double by Gerding, one of five Hornets to begin an inning by reaching base, seemed like it might cause trouble, but Cowan struck out Janickas and then made a great play on a sharp grounder by DePompei that hit the pitcher on the ankle but still resulted in an out at first. With Gerding on third base, Cowan forced Winston to fly out to Stoops. "I think we battled today," Fernandez said. "We barreled some balls. They just didn't get down. We made some good plays. We just couldn't get that big hit today." For Wadsworth, Copeland led off the fourth with a single and stole second, but Richnafsky retired the next three hitters, leading to a stretch of 12 straight before he was pulled for close Joshua Butcher to start the eighth. Butcher surrendered a single to Reid Close to start the eighth but struck out Pelkey to end the inning with Close on third. In the next inning, Butcher plunked Stoops, who went to second on a sacrifice by Copeland, but the threat was nullified when Myser made a nice running catch in right field on a ball hit by Cindia and then doubled off Stoops at second. "Both teams played really solid defense," Cindia said. "A lot of hard hit balls, but nothing was falling. The pitchers did really well. It's hard to get a good piece on (Richnafsky) when he's just dotting the outside." First baseman Jamison Marshall switched positions with Cowan in the ninth and retired four of the five batters until Myser came to bat and the game was suspended. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Wadsworth 0, Highland 0 (9 inn.) HIGHLAND 000 000 000 — 0 5 0 WADSWORTH 000 000 000 — 0 3 1 (Game suspended in top of 10th inning with one on and one out) Highland (2-0) — Cooper Richnafsky 7 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts; Lucas Gerding double. Wadsworth (1-0) — Lucas Cowan 8 innings, 0 runs, 5 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts.