Warren’s Colby Johnson pitched six strong innings on Wednesday as the Dragons clinched a share of the Region 6 title with a 9-2 win at Fort LeBoeuf.

WATERFORD – Warren came into this week with a chance to win three region games and take control of Region 6.

Mission accomplished.

The Dragons (14-3, 10-1 Region 6) scored seven runs in the fifth inning on their way to a 9-2 win over Fort LeBoeuf (7-5, 6-4) on Wednesday. The win guarantees Warren at least a share of the Region 6 title.

Fort LeBoeuf called on ace Corey Shields and his 0.25 ERA to start the game on the mound. But it was Warren’s Colby Johnson who stole the show, pitching six strong innings to get the win.

“Colby threw good,” said Warren coach Rick Eaton. “He didn’t walk anybody again. If you make enough plays and don’t give up the big innings, you’ll put yourself in a good position and that’s what we did.”

Johnson now has a 4-1 record with a 0.97 ERA.

Shields lasted only two innings, throwing 56 pitches while yielding an RBI walk to Nate Betts in the first and a sacrifice fly by Johnson in the second.

“We made Shields throw 40 pitches in the first inning with a bunch of foul-offs,” Eaton said. “We only got one run but that set the tone for the game.”

Reliever Riley Clark was able to keep the Dragons at bay until the huge fifth inning. Johnson led off the inning by reaching on an error, and Austyn Cummings and Seth Baldensperger followed with walks to load the bases for Aidan Morrison. Morrison lined a single to left, scoring courtesy runner Evan Tremblay and Betts dropped in a single of his own to score Cummings. Lance Baldensperger then roped a two-run double to right and, after a Mitch Grosch walk, Braidy Blair also doubled to score two more. Derek Knapp then capped the inning off with an RBI groundout that scored Grosch.

“Nice big seven run inning,” Eaton said. “They made an error, we had a couple walks, some clutch hits. Aidan had one, Betts had one, Lance a big two-run double, Blair a two-run double and the last one scored on a groundout by Knapp. It was a good inning. The big key is the whole lineup is seeing the ball. We’re having good at-bats, that’s what it takes against the better pitching.”

In all, Bison pitchers threw 156 pitches in the seven inning game.

“We’re having quality at-bats, which definitely makes a difference,” Eaton said. “We have to shore up the defense a little bit and just keep working.”

Warren will play again on Thursday at Oil City in a non-region tilt to wrap up the week. They will then have a chance to win the region outright on Monday against Harbor Creek before finishing the regular season Tuesday against Cathedral Prep.

The region title comes from a team that consists of only two seniors in Blair and Seth Baldensperger. While young, the Dragons now figure to contend for a District 10 4A title.

“I thought we’d be competitive this year (in the region), but I thought we were one year away,” Eaton said. “But we came together as a team. There’s a lot of good pitchers (in 4A), but not that one automatic guy. There’s six teams in the south and four in the north that I think have a shot of getting to that District 10 4A championship game.”

The Warren JV team continued to win big knocking off the Bison 12-2.

Tremblay had a big game for the Dragons with three hits, three RBI, and two doubles. Ryan Rafalski, Jamo Douvlos and Owen Balas all had two hits and Hunter Loomis picked up the win on the mound. The JV Dragons are now 15-1.

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WARREN (9)

Knapp, 2B, 4-0-1-1, Johnson, P, 2-0-0-1, Cummings, RF, 3-1-1-0, S. Baldensperger, DH, 2-1-1-0, Morrison, C, 4-0-1-1, Betts, SS, 3-1-1-2, L. Baldensperger, CF, 4-1-1-2, Blair, 1B, 3-0-1-2, Grosch, 3B, 2-2-2-0, Balas, LF, 0-0-0-0, Irwin, LF, 1-0-0-0, Leonard, 3B, 0-0-0-0, Arnold, CR, 0-1-0-0. Totals: 29-9-9-9.

FORT LEBOEUF (2)

Jarrett, 4-1-3-0, Dauson, 4-0-0-0, Weaver, 3-1-1-0, Sanfilippo, 3-0-2-0, C. Shields, 2-0-1-1, Rapp, 4-0-0-0, Worley, 2-0-0-0, Clark, 1-0-0-0, Cross, 0-0-0-0, Lesik, 2-0-1-0, D. Shields, 3-0-0-1. Totals: 28-2-8-2.

Warren 110 070 0 – 9 9 4

Fort LeBoeuf 100 100 0 – 2 8 2

2B- L. Baldensperger (W), Blair (W), Jarrett (F). WP- Johnson (4-1); LP- Clark.