Baseball: Columbia capitalizes on Firelands' errors in LCL win

HENRIETTA TWP. — Firelands threw away Tuesday evening's Lorain County League game against Columbia. The Falcons committed three throwing errors that led to four runs in the fourth inning as the Raiders won 8-5. Columbia improved to 4-2, 3-2. Firelands is 4-4, 2-2. "We tell (the team) in November, the first two weeks of the season aren't going to be pretty," said Columbia coach Dan Durante. "Be aggressive on the basepaths and we're going to try to squeeze across a couple runs to try to get that early lead and we'll go from there." Liam Tran opened the top of the fourth with a walk, followed by a single from Wesley Sanders to bring up the top of the order. Carter Duley grounded to short with what appeared to be a tailor-made double-play ball, but the throw wound up in right-center field, allowing Tran to score and Sanders to advance to third. Duley ended up on second base. Logan North reached on another throwing error, with Sanders and Duley scoring and North advancing to second. Jose Rivera singled home North with the fourth run, giving Columbia a 6-2 lead. "I think we had five unearned runs, right? So it should be 5-3," Firelands veteran coach Dan Ransom said, referring to what would've been a Falcons win. "Like I said before the game, I thought we turned the corner. Turn the corner to a dead end. "We can't give extra outs to anybody. When you do, bad things happen, obviously." On the other side, Columbia junior Logan Menge led the offense and the defense. Menge drilled two doubles, drove in two runs and scored twice. He's had five doubles in his last two games. He also made a couple of nice plays defensively at shortstop. "I didn't start off that hot," he said of the season. "These guys behind me trusted me and kept telling me to put the work in. They know me and my teammates gave me energy. This is my third year on varsity and I want to be a leader. Me, Carter and Jose, we want to lead this team." "All the years I've been at Columbia — 17 years — he is one of, if not the, best hitters we've had," said Durante. "I told him, look, all you have to do is stop pressing. Just relax. (Monday) at Brookside he relaxed a little bit and it carried over to (Tuesday)." On the mound, sophomore Patrick Sorensen picked up his first varsity win by simply throwing strikes. He worked six strong innings, scattering five hits and not walking anyone until the sixth when he loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batter. Duley came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh, giving up a two-run home run to Aaron Bower that closed the final margin. "It feels good," said Sorensen, who gave his brother and battery mate Andrew credit. "He definitely helps a little but the guys in the outfield kept it going. Even if (Firelands) got hits, even if guys got on base, they kept playing with intensity. They had my back." Durante couldn't agree more. Columbia's defense was sharp. The Raiders committed just one error and made big plays when they were needed. "We try to stress defensively early on in the year," he said. "I need you guys to play defense because our guys are learning on the mound. I'm throwing a sophomore — Pat Sorensen, who does a great job and gets his first varsity win. He did a fantastic job throwing six innings." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com.