Division II district baseball: Elyria Catholic's season gone with the wind after 3-0 loss to Bay

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — One big swing and one big breeze was all it took to eliminate Elyria Catholic from the Division II district tournament Wednesday at North Ridgeville High School. Bay's Ryan Nolan smashed an 0-2 pitch into the air and let the wind do the rest for a three-run home run in the top of the third inning. It was all the Rockets needed in a 3-0 whitewash of EC that sent them to the regional tournament for the first time since 2009. The second-seeded Panthers (19-6) had beaten eighth-seeded Bay (18-11) twice during the regular season. "I had it to 0-2 and missed with the fastball and he made me pay," EC's left-handed ace Levi Ellis said. "Their pitcher (Danny Surdy) kept us off-balance. He did a good job of that. Sometimes that's how the game goes." "Our coach says, '0-2, you've got to hit the ball hard on the ground,'" Nolan said. "I was thinking that. Didn't happen. It happened to go over the fence. Felt great." "I was thinking this might have a chance," Bay coach Ben Boka said of Nolan's blast. "At first it got up and then it just kind of kept going. That's a great sort of feeling for the young man. "This will be my first trip to the regionals. It's kind of surreal." Elyria Catholic had a golden opportunity to score in the bottom of the third. Tony Grasso lined a one-out double to left-center and Anthony Hutter walked. Ellis blooped a single over the second baseman's head to load the bases with the heart of the Panthers order due up but sophomore Taylor Belza struck out and senior Dominic Calanni bounced to third for a force out to end the threat. "We always preach take advantage of opportunities," EC coach Bruce Lisicky said. "We had one with the bases loaded with one out and maybe one other time. Surdy pitched a great game against us. You can't win if you can't put any runs on the board." In the second inning, Calanni was stranded at third after leading off with a single and advancing to second on a ground ball. Other than that, the right-hander Surdy was steady, retiring the last 10 batters to get the win. He struck out four consecutive batters to end the fourth and complete the fifth. EC had five groundouts and an easy fly to center field from there. The Panthers could muster only three hits off Surdy. "He kept us off-balance," Lisicky said. "The umpire was calling the low strike and he just kept pounding that. We just couldn't hit it." "I usually rely on my fastball to get ahead," Surdy said. "I was mixing in some sliders and change-ups to get 0-1, 0-2. I kept doing it the whole game." Bay's third inning started with a sinking liner to left by Carter Ormsby that EC's Jack Hurst couldn't quite snare. Frank Bird sacrificed Ormsby to second and Lisicky decided to intentionally walk Evan Bottone. "Bottone's their best player," Lisicky said. "He's going to Akron (on a baseball scholarship) and first base was open. I had confidence in Levi, hoping to get a ground ball out of that. We had 0-2 on (Nolan) and Levi missed his spot. Once that got up in the air, I was afraid it would carry out. "Levi settled down after that. It was a tough one to take. It's hard to beat a team three times like that." Ellis pitched well other than Nolan's homer, finishing with four strikeouts and just the one walk. Bay had only five hits. Still, Ellis is leaving quite a legacy at EC. "I'd like to think I've left this place better than I found it," said Ellis, who was the Golden Helmet winner in football. "It just sucks to go out this way." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com.