Sectional Baseball: Firelands off to fast start in postseason

HENRIETTA TWP. — Firelands got off to a dream start in its tournament opener. The ninth-seeded Falcons opened the Division II sectional semifinal with five runs in the first two innings and made them hold up in an 8-5 win over the 29th-seeded Clippers. Firelands is 14-9. The Falcons, the regional runner-up last season, will continue their postseason journey Wednesday when they visit eighth-seeded Norton at 5 p.m. There were baserunners for both teams all through the game, with only a single 1-2-3 half-inning. But it was the Falcons who came through early, putting up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Aidan Newman walked to start the inning and came home on a single through the middle by Kyle Ransom. Gavin Varndell scored Ransom with a booming triple to deep center. Clippers starter and Malone College recruit Caleb Shinsky got the first two batters in the second, but Firelands scored three times as Liam Varndell started the rally with a single and the bases loaded with walks to Newman and Tony Poyle. Varndell scored on a balk, and the big blow was Ransom's second hit in two innings that drove in a pair for a huge 5-0 lead. "It's critical every game to get up early, but ever more in the postseason" said Ransom, who went 2-for-4 and drove in four runs. "We've been a team that maybe scores and lets games slip away, but we didn't have that problem today." Thoughts of the game slipping away may have crept into the minds of the Falcons when the Clippers (4-17) scored three runs against starting pitcher Abe Mastelone to start the third inning. Brian Kilgore walked, and Ashton Noble followed with a single. Zavior Castillo drove in one with a well-placed bunt hit, and Alvarado Sabian drove in a pair with a clutch two-out hit through the middle to cut the lead to 5-3. That would be the closest Clearview got, as Firelands added a pair of runs in the fourth on an outfield error and a Ransom sacrifice fly and another in the fifth on a Nate Draga sacrifice fly after Cory Ransom started the inning with a single. "We've been a bunch of two-team guys, one team shows up early and a different team shows up later in the game," Falcons coach Dan Ransom said. "We just can't get a full, complete game out of them and have a lot of success. "We are going to have to play a lot better than that. We let things happen instead of making things happen." Clearview added a couple of runs in the sixth on an error and a Tyler Bockwich hit, but those were the final runs of the season for the Clippers. "All season long it seems that there has been that one inning that always hurts us and that was the second inning," coach Miles Jones said. "This game is about balls and strikes and it's been our Achilles' heel that we have a lot of walks and give up those extra hits that cost us runs." Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.