Division I sectional baseball: Jake Boynar's big pitches and big defense lead North Ridgeville past St. Edward

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Jake Boynar helped North Ridgeville out of two bases-loaded jams Thursday against St. Edward. The Rangers ace delivered two clutch strikeouts in the third, then in the seventh moved to first base, snagged a line drive and dove back to first to double up the Eagles runner for the final out in a 4-1 win in a Division I sectional final at North Ridgeville High School. Fifth-seeded North Ridgeville (19-5) advances to a district semifinal for the first time in more than a decade and will face No. 7 Strongsville — which defeated No. 15 seed Avon 2-1 — on Tuesday at 1 p.m. St. Edward, the 13th seed, is eliminated at 11-14. "With the bases juiced, you know someone has to come through and make a play in those situations," Boynar said. "This is the first time we've been to districts in awhile. It's a really big win for our program and our city." Both teams got strong pitching, with St. Edward's Max McCellan recording nine strikeouts to go with four hits and six walks. Boynar finished with six strikeouts, allowing just two hits and walking five. The Eagles had a golden opportunity to break open the game in the third when they loaded the bases with a hit and back-to-back walks. Charlie Lauretig drove in one with a sacrifice fly and Boynar reloaded the bases with another walk. The Rangers ace faced a full count on the next batter, but kept the score tied with back-to-back strikeouts. "I was wild, I have been a few times this year," Boynar said. "It was all determination. I knew I couldn't be giving up runs. We couldn't let them have anything. I just got into the zone against the last two batters, figured it out and went from there." North Ridgeville's first three batters walked in its half of the third and Adam Bright gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with a sacrifice fly, but McCellan got out of the jam with his eighth strikeout. Alex Elbert led off the fourth with a shot to center and five batters later Gavin Padgett — who was celebrating his 18th birthday — drove him in with a grounder that found a gap into left field. North Ridgeville got another insurance run in the sixth off Gannon Padgett's two-out triple, then scored on an error. "It feels awesome," Gavin Padgett said. "I started off with a strikeout, so I knew I had to figure out something to get back into it. So I just sat back on the fastball. We tried to work the count, the umpire had a really good, consistent zone, so we knew what was going to be a strike and what wasn't." Bright relieved Boynar in the fifth and gave up only two hits in his first two innings, but found himself in a bases-loaded jam with one out in the seventh with the go-ahead run coming to the plate. Boynar made a spectacular diving catch on a line drive down the first-base line that — had it landed fair — would probably have scored at least two runs. The senior then scrambled back to first and dove to the bag. Lauretig was initially called safe, but after a discussion the umpires overturned the call. "All year, Jake and Adam are our Monday, Tuesday guys," North Ridgeville coach Matt Ponting said. "If we can scratch across three or four runs, we're usually good with them on the mound." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter.