High school baseball: Keystone beats Black River, hands Columbia share of LCL

LAGRANGE — Columbia coach Dan Durante might want to send a thank you card to Keystone players. Just 48 hours after the Wildcats dropped a game to Black River that gave Pirates at least a share of the Lorain County League championship, the Wildcats bounced back by scoring first and never looking back in a 9-1 win over Black River. The Keystone (15-10) win gives the Raiders a share of the conference title, as Columbia and Black River (15-7) finished 12-2 in the league. Keystone finished a game back. "I'm gonna call Durante and tell him that he might owe me a few beers after that," Keystone coach Bert Fitzgerald joked. "We love (the Raiders). They are like our cousins from across the county. I'm happy for Columbia to get a share. They deserve it. "We were swept by Black River last year and swept by Firelands. This year, we swept Firelands and split with Black River. I think we're getting back to where we need to be." The Wildcats scored a run in the first when Tucker Webb had the first of his three hits, was sacrificed to second by Dominic Reitz and came home on a two-out hit by Victor Vilchez, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. "We've been playing well and lost a couple games by one that could have gone either way," Webb said. "That first run was really important. It got the momentum going right away. Just having that helped us flip the switch." "It was good to get that right away and I'm glad I was able to get it through the right side to get that first run home in the game," Vilchez said. "(Wednesday's loss to the Pirates) really hurt and we came into this with nothing to lose. We were passionate about this, even with nothing on the line for us." Black River had its chances to bounce back with baserunners in the second and third, as Evan Ladina singled in the second and was stranded at second. In the third, Jayce Hopek and Blake Hopkins each reached on errors, but Hopek was thrown out at home on an attempted double steal. "We've been a pretty good team all year about answering back when we get scored on, and today it just didn't happen," Black River coach Jake O'Connor said. "We just made too many baserunning mistakes and popups in the infield." Keystone scored a pair of unearned runs in the third when Reitz and Brock Miller singled and came home on an error for a 3-0 lead. The Pirates finally got to Wildcats freshman starter Ryan Younglas with a run in the fourth in their only inning with more than a hit. Travis Dean singled but was erased on a Ladina fielder's choice in a 6-5-4 rundown, but Chase English came through with a double to right for a run. But a pair of groundouts on the left side left English stranded and the Pirates trailing 3-1. The Wildcats answered with a run on a Webb sacrifice fly that sent home Drew Sivec, who had singled, but the game got completely away from the Pirates in the sixth off relief pitcher John Kray, as Keystone scored five times (two earned) and sent 11 batters to the plate. Brock Miller and Vilchez each drove home runs with a hit and after a hit batter. A dropped fly ball in the outfield off the bat of Alex Sayers let two more come home, and Todd Bowdy sent him home with a single to left. Vilchez came on in relief for the Wildcats and walked one but got a popup and a pair of strikeouts. Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.