Dragons vault past Harbor Creek, into first place
HARBORCREEK – Warren’s recipe for success this year has been solid pitching and timely hitting. That continued in Monday’s Region 6 matchup with Harbor Creek.
Matt Leonard pitched a complete game gem and the Dragons scored four runs in the fifth inning to knock off the Huskies 6-2 for a huge region win.
“Matt Leonard pitched a great game,” said Warren coach Rick Eaton. “He really had good command today.”
The win puts Warren in first place (9-2 overall, 5-1 in Region 6) after the first round of region games. Harbor Creek now sits at 8-2, 5-1, but falls to second place behind Warren due to head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Huskies struck first on Monday, scoring two unearned runs in the second inning. Ryan MacGurn came around to score on an error with two outs, and Nick Trombetta added an RBI single two batters later to put the Huskies up 2-0.
That was all Harbor Creek would get off of Leonard, who was brilliant in a complete game effort. The junior allowed three hits, walked two, and struck out five while allowing no earned runs.
“Matt fought his way through early in the game,” Eaton said.
Harbor Creek starting pitcher Tyler Passmore, a Mercyhurst signee, was perfect through three innings before the Dragon bats woke up in the top of the fourth. Colby Johnson doubled down the left field line with one out, and Seth Baldensperger singled him in with two outs to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Huskies threatened again in the bottom of the inning when MacGurn reached on an error to begin the inning. But the Dragons were able to quickly stifle the problem when MacGurn was picked off of first by catcher Aidan Morrison and Leonard retired the next two batters.
That set the stage for Warren’s big inning in the top of the fifth. Morrison led off the inning, and drove a long fly ball down the left field line that easily cleared the fence but was ruled foul. Morrison was later retired, but Nate Betts followed with a fly ball that was misplayed in center by MacGurn. Lance Baldensperger followed with an infield single, and Braidy Blair worked a walk to load the bases. Passmore then walked Derek Knapp and Johnson as well, forcing in two runs and giving Warren a 3-2 lead.
Linden Hoover then replaced Passmore on the mound, but the Dragons weren’t done yet. Austyn Cummings hit a ground ball to second base that was misplayed, allowing Blair to score. Seth Baldensperger then followed a sac fly, scoring Knapp and giving Warren a 5-2 lead.
“Everybody kept fighting and then we had that big inning,” Eaton said.
The Dragons would threaten again the the sixth when Morrison and Ryan Rafalski walked consecutively, but were unable to add an insurance run. That insurance run would come in the seventh when Cummings doubled in courtesy runner Owen Balas to make the score 6-2.
Warren only had four total hits in the game, but walked six times and benefitted from a pair of costly Husky errors.
“This was a really good win,” Eaton said. “We’re playing good baseball right now. The pitching has been outstanding and the defense has been solid. A couple of hiccups here and there but we have been able to overcome them.”
The Dragons will return to action Wednesday, hosting McDowell in a non-region game.
Warren also got an outstanding pitching performance in the JV game, as Tyler Gustafston threw a complete game shutout in a 2-0 win. Adam Irwin homered, while Ryan Arnold added two hits for the undefeated Dragons.
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Warren (6): Knapp, 2B, 3-1-0-1, Johnson, LF, 2-1-1-1, Cummings, RF, 4-0-1-2, S. Baldensperger, DH, 3-0-1-2, Grosch, 3B, 4-0-0-0, Morrison, C, 2-0-0-0, Balas, CR, 0-1-0-0, Betts, SS, 2-0-0-0, Rafalski, SS, 0-0-0-0, L. Baldensperger, CF, 3-1-1-0, Blair, 1B, 2-1-0-0, Tremblay, CR, 0-1-0-0.
Harbor Creek (2): Maldonado, 3-1-0-0, Burnett, 3-0-1-0, Trombetta, 4-0-1-1, Passmore, 3-0-0-0, Mosbacher, 3-0-0-0, Hoover, 2-0-0-0, Folmar, 3-0-1-0, MacGurn, 1-1-0-0, Blakney, 3-0-0-0, Tokarczyk, 1-0-0-0.
Warren 000 140 1 – 6 4 3
Harbor Creek 020 000 0 – 2 3 2
2B: Johnson (W), Cummings (W). WP- Leonard. LP- Passmore.
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