H.S. Baseball: Avon denies Amherst share of SWC title

AMHERST — Avon couldn't win the Southwestern Conference title, but the Eagles had a say in who did. Despite only one hit and the Comets' Chase Mayer striking out a career-high 18 batters, Avon found a way to deny Amherst a share of the league championship with a 2-1 win Wednesday. The loss by the Comets (17-8, 11-3) leaves North Ridgeville (16-5, 12-2) as the sole champion after the Rangers' 9-6 win in 10 innings against Avon Lake on Tuesday. "When you come out and throw a complete game with one hit with 18 strikeouts and take an L, that's tough," Comets coach Matt Rositano said. "He pitched his butt off and you can't ask for anything more from your starting pitching than what Chase just gave us." The 18 K's were one off Evan Shawver's school record. "That guy did a great job on the mound keeping us off-balance and we just had one timely hit," Eagles coach Pat Scholla said of Mayer. "We've been having a tough time finding ways to get on first." Avon (10-12, 7-7) put the pressure on Amherst right out of the gate when leadoff hitter Matt Maxey, a sophomore, drew a four-pitch walk. After a strikeout, Gavin Ehrhardt was hit by a pitch. Maxey stole third and the throw from the catcher sailed high to let Maxey run home for a 1-0 lead that held up until the fifth inning. "I had the walk, Coach sent me on the steal and the overthrow," said Maxey. "I didn't realize the ball went past until the entire dugout started screaming at me and I ran home and scored. That got the whole team riled up." Mayer went on to strike out the side to end the threat. On the other side, Ehrhardt grinded for 6 2/3 innings as Amherst had baserunners in every inning but just couldn't break through. "We've been struggling all season plying together as a team, but these last two games we have really come together as a team a lot," Ehrhardt said. "I was going back out there (to the mound) pretty quick most of the time, so I was able to stay focused." The Comets left two runners on in the first and the bases loaded in the second after three straight walks and an infield hit. Ehrhardt kept Amherst from scoring because he got a pickoff after the first of the walks. The Eagles picked up a huge insurance run in the fifth when Ian Cain walked and stole second. Mayer struck out the next two batters, but Maxey stroked a solid single to right for the only Avon hit of the game and a 2-0 lead. After leaving two more runners on in the sixth, Amherst finally broke through in the seventh for a chance to at least send the game into extra innings. Mayer started the inning with a single but was wiped out on a Cam Gendics fielder's choice grounder to second. Martin Polonkay hit a grounder to second and was originally called out, but after a conference the umpires determined the defender was pulled off the bag. After a wild pitch, Christian Gendics hit a grounder to first to score his brother. When Ehrhardt hit Nick Costello in the foot, Scholla turned to reliever Leo Walters to save the day. Walters got Seth Lopez to hit a fly ball to right to end the game and give the Eagles a most improbable win after whiffing at the plate all day. "I think we left eight runners in scoring position throughout the seven innings, we had small armies on base all day, but just couldn't get the big hit when we needed it," Rositano said. Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.