District baseball: Isaac Smith's clutch hit wins it for Cloverleaf over Ravenna

WESTFIELD TWP. — The Ravenna baseball team landed a couple of early jabs that staggered Cloverleaf on Thursday, but the Colts' Isaac Smith connected with the knockout blow in a Division IV, Northeast 2 District quarterfinal. With the game tied in the sixth with two outs, Smith sent a fly ball into shallow center field that landed in front of and rolled past a diving attempt by the Ravens' Brandon Nichols. Pinch runner Reed Kilgore scored from first base to give 13th-seeded Cloverleaf the 6-5 victory over No. 25 Ravenna. "That's a good win," Smith said. "We're fighters, man. We just fought until the end. It was a close game, and we just kept fighting until the end." Kilgore was running for catcher Carson Baltic, who reached on the fourth Ravenna error. Trying to beat the Metro Athletic Conference rival Ravens (7-19) for the third time in 10 days, the Colts (14-12) needed contributions from everywhere to rally from 1-0, 4-2 and 5-3 deficits to advance to a district semifinal against seventh-seeded Field (18-5) on Tuesday. "They started early on us, but there's no better feeling than us stringing hits together and playing together to get the win," Cloverleaf's Jimmy Tolley said. "Those pieces add up. It was all of us, and that's what makes it feel so good. All of us played our roles and contributed." Trailing 5-3 in the fifth, Tolley ripped a two-out single to left that scored Clinton Fauss and Brady Long to tie the game. Long singled in the first, reached on an error in the third and walked in the fifth on his way to scoring three runs. Fauss reached on a two-base error in the fifth to extend the inning and give Tolley a chance to tie the game. The contributions didn't stop there, as Gehrig Miller was lights out, retiring eight of the nine batters he faced after relieving Walker Smith with one out in the fifth and Cloverleaf trailing 5-3 with a runner on first base. Miller gave up one hit, struck out two and also got some great help from Vincent Hinderman, whose diving catch in right field robbed Matthew Fuller to begin the seventh. "It's a lot of just trusting myself," Miller said. "Early on in the season I had trouble doing that, but overall throughout the season I've been trusting myself a little more. "As a senior coming into this playoff game, I knew I didn't want to let people down, including myself." A rematch with the MAC rival Falcons, a 19-0 winner over Villa Angela-St. Joseph on Thursday, is something the Colts have been hoping for since a 5-4 walk-off loss May 14 that cost Cloverleaf a share of the league title. Cloverleaf won the first meeting 11-5 on April 13. "We really want Field again," Smith said. "We really want to get that win. We shouldn't have lost the second time, and we know that. We want to get that second win against Field and move on to the district final." Ravenna struck first when Logan Hysell and Sean Jordan had back-to-back singles. Jordan, who went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, stole second and third before Hysell drove him in. The Colts struck back when a two-out single by Austin Sustersic drove in Fauss and Long to take a 2-1 lead in the first. The Ravens regained the lead with three runs in the third on a two-run single by Jordan, who later scored on a Fuller ground ball. Cloverleaf chipped away with a triple by Logan Knapp that scored Long in the same inning. Ravenna went up 5-3 in the fifth when Liam Summers singled, stole second and then advanced home on two wild pitches to set up the Colts' late-game heroics. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Cloverleaf 6, Ravenna 5 Division IV, Northeast 2 District Quarterfinal RAVENNA 103 010 0 — 5 9 4 CLOVERLEAF 201 021 x — 6 5 1 WP — Gerig Miller (4-0) 2 2/3 innings, 0 runs, hit, 2 strikeouts. LP — Connor Welling 6 innings, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts. Ravenna (7-19) — Sean Jordan 3 singles, 2 runs; Tyler Nichols 2 singles. Cloverleaf (14-12) — Clinton Fauss walk, 2 runs; Brady Long single, 3 runs; Logan Knapp triple, RBI; Jimmy Tolley single, 2 RBIs; Austin Sustersic single, 2 RBIs; Isaac Smith double, RBI.