Elyria Catholic riding hot streak, beats Columbia in baseball

ELYRIA — Bruce Lisicky thinks his Elyria Catholic team is catching fire at the right time. On Wednesday, the Panthers (10-7) won their seventh in a row by beating Columbia, 10-5, in non-conference play. Anthony Hutter, EC's top-of-the-order senior, leads the way. He scored three runs by getting on base three of the four times he batted. He tripled, stole a base and even pitched late in the game. EC had three sacrifice flies and a sacrifice bunt in the game. "We go as he goes," said Lisicky. "He's been on fire lately. We've won seven in a row now and he's been on that hot streak. Like I said, he goes, we go." "I've got to give it to all the coaches," said Hutter. "Lisicky and Coach (Al) McConihe. They've built a winning program and put me in the right spots. Whether it's a bunt to get me around the bases, timely hitting, sacrifice fly, it's just a team thing." Hutter, who will be headed to Eastern Michigan next year, is one of four senior leaders Lisicky depends on. Kyle Fairbanks, another senior, pitched a good game, going five strong innings, allowing just one run — a home run by Columbia's Jose Rivera that kept Columbia's hopes alive. Fairbanks struck out four, walked just one and allowed just three hits to earn his third win. "He's our No. 1," said Lisicky. "His record doesn't show it because he's faced all the best teams, but he's kept us in every game. We can't ask for anything more." Senior Sammy Zambataro, who had three hits and an RBI, came in to quell a last-inning rally by Columbia to preserve the win for Fairbanks. The other senior, L.J. Hurlbut, provided a single and an RBI. The Panthers started two sophomores and two freshmen against the Raiders. One of those sophomores, catcher Kai Toton, provided a huge two-run home run in the fourth inning to push EC's lead to 5-1. "Kai's been bouncing around between JV and varsity all year," Lisicky said. "Early in the year, we were DH-ing for him. JV coach said he's been crushing the ball and he got it up in that wind right where he needed to be. He's leading our team in home runs right now." "When I go up to the plate, I go up there looking for contact," said Toton. "If it goes far, it goes far. That one went farther than I expected. I did not think that was going out. I thought it was going to be a fly out and I was going to get yelled at. "I had a home run earlier at a 250-foot fence so I really didn't count that because it was so short. This one was my first outside-the-parker." Columbia (16-3) has been hot of late itself and its coach Dan Durante has been pleased with the effort his team has given in recent outings. The Raiders are still in the thick of the Lorain County League race. "We come to Elyria Catholic, great program, always has been," Durante said. "Throwing a sophomore and a freshman (pitchers), I told them 'I don't care what the score is, just get your work in.' That's all I need. They'll learn from this stuff. We battled a little bit. We hung around with these guys. It's all good. It's a win-win for us." The Raiders made things interesting in the top of the seventh with four runs. Freshman Logan Menge drove in two with a single to right. (Columbia's) a good ballclub," said Lisicky. "I know (Durante) may have been resting a couple of guys and we were taking a look at some other guys, too, but you can tell they have a winning ball team. You can't count them out at all." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com.