×

Cummings, Balas go deep, Irwin tosses gem as Dragons blank Erie High for non-region win

Warren’s Austyn Cummings is congratulated by assistant coach Jeff Eaton while rounding the bases on his fourth inning home run.

It was all working for the Warren Dragons in Tuesday’s non-region contest against Erie, so much so that Owen Balas’ 2-run home run in the fourth inning landed with his grandpa beyond the left-centerfield fence.

Austyn Cummings joined Balas in going deep, while Adam Irwin was dominant over his four innings on the mound as the Dragons (8-2) rolled to an 11-0, 5-inning win.

“It was a pretty good game for us,” said Warren coach Rick Eaton. “We broke our bats out a little bit and Irwin threw good again. Just a good game to get on the field and play.”

Balas and Cummings were just part of the offensive story. Lance Baldensperger had a pair of hits and RBI, while Ryan Rafalski was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Irwin also helped himself out with a pair of hits.

The Dragons were able to overcome a somewhat sleepy start offensively, leading 1-0 after two innings on an RBI groundout from Baldensperger that wasn’t fielded cleanly by the Royals (1-8).

Warren’s Adam Irwin delivers a pitch during the second inning of Tuesday’s game against Erie High. Irwin tossed four scoreless frames in the 11-0 win.

Irwin was locked in right from the get go, striking out three in his first two innings of work, and he got plenty of support in the third and fourth innings.

Three straight singles to start the third by Mitch Grosch, Cummings and Baldensperger brought in a run and Aidan Morrison’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0 with two outs.

Warren struck three more times with some two-out lightning that was aided by a pair of Erie errors and it was 6-0 after three.

There was nothing cheap about the five runs they scored in the fourth inning, however.

Cummings led off and sent an 0-1 pitch over the fence in right, followed by a gap double off the bat of Baldensperger.

Balas came up and jumped on the first pitch he saw, a line drive that just kept carrying all the way out.

“It was nice to take advantage of our fence,” Eaton said. “It was nice to see us hit home runs here instead of our opponents, so that’s a good thing.”

Rafalski had an RBI single in the frame and Matt Leonard an RBI groundout that made it 11-0.

Nick Hussey came on after Irwin and closed the game out in the top half of the fifth.

There was no JV game, so Eaton took advantage and got plenty of his younger players, who have dominated so far this season in their own right, in the game.

“It was good to get the younger kids a little dabble of what we’re looking at,” he said. “They’ve been around it and they see what’s going on.”

The Dragons have a busy schedule, beginning today with a Region 6 game at Fort LeBoeuf, followed by non-region contests at Meadville Friday and Titusville Saturday.

“We’ve got Colby (Johnson) ready to go and Leonard if we need him,” Eaton said about today’s game. “This is a fortunate year (with the schedule being the way it is) where we have six pitchers I’m not afraid who can go out and throw strikes and keep us in ball games. Everybody’s stepped up.”

– – –

ERIE (0)

Skibinski 2B 2-0-1-0, Radziszewski P 3-0-0-0, Sutton P 0-0-0-0, Meder CF 2-0-0-0, Yauger C 2-0-0-0, Knight 1B 1-0-1-0, Guerassimoff LF 2-0-0-0, Krause SS 2-0-0-0, Merski 3B 2-0-0-0, Nickson DH 1-0-0-0, Shaffer RF 0-0-0-0, Totals 17-0-2-0

WARREN (11)

Knapp 2B 3-1-1-0, Grosch 3B 2-1-1-0, Leonard 3B 1-0-0-0, Cummings 1B 3-2-2-1, Passmore SS 0-0-0-0, Baldensperger CF 3-2-2-2, Arnold CF 0-0-0-0, Betts RF 2-0-0-0, Balas RF 1-1-1-2, Morrison C 2-0-0-1, Loomis C 0-0-0-0, Johnson LF 1-2-0-0, Rafalsk SS 3-1-2-1, Swanson RF 0-0-0-0, Irwin P 2-0-2-0, Gustafson CR 0-0-0-0, Totals 24-11-11-8

Erie 000 00 – 0 2 4

Warren

105 5 x -11 11 1

2B – Baldensperger (W), Skibinski (E); HR – Cummings (W), Balas (W)

Irwin: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO

Hussey: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today