High school baseball: Amherst hammers Avon

AMHERST — Bowling Green commit Harrison Schneider pushed his streak of not allowing an earned run to over 25 innings as Amherst defeated Avon 9-1 on Tuesday. The Comets beat Avon 10-0 on Monday, making it a rough couple of days for the Eagles. "We tell these guys all the time, we do not care who is in the other dugout, we are just trying to play Amherst baseball," Amherst coach Matt Rositano said. "When we play Amherst baseball, regardless of our opponent, we are going to be successful." Schneider, a senior right-hander, allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out eight over six innings. He has allowed just seven hits and 12 walks, while striking out 39 in 25 1/3 innings this season. "My slider and my curveball, mixing it in with my fastball was definitely working today," Schneider said. "Overall, I felt like all my stuff was working. I was in a rhythm and that led me to dicing them." Schneider helped his cause by going 1-for-3 with two RBIs. "As good as he was last year, he has gotten better," Rositano said. Amherst got going early when junior Cooper Bingham drove in a run with a single, Schneider followed with another RBI single and Ethan Toyoda hit a two-run double to make it 4-0 in the first. Another Schneider single in the second put Amherst up 5-0. Right fielder Nick Wilkinson got in on the fun for the Comets in the third with an RBI single, and Toyoda knocked in his third run of the game with a single in the fourth to make it 7-0. Avon broke up Schneider's perfect game bid in the fifth with a double from junior Carter Jenny. Junior Cole Charles and senior Landon Wolf each drove in runs in the fifth to make it 9-0, before the Eagles were able to get on the board in the seventh with an RBI single from catcher Nathan Peters. Avon sophomore Casey Birth went 2 2/3 innings before being relieved. Birth allowed three earned runs on three hits and finished with five walks and one strikeout. Senior Aidan Bauer took over and allowed two runs on three hits in one inning. The Eagles' final pitcher was senior Hugh Muzik, who pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings, allowing one hit with two walks and one strikeout. Peters, Jenny and sophomore Sam Griffiths had Avon's three hits. "That's a good team over there," Avon coach Pat Scholla said. "Our No. 1 goal for each game is to learn something. Whether that is positive or something we don't want to do. It's a young team and they are learning." The Comets had constant traffic on the bases as they finished with 10 hits and 11 walks. Wilkinson and Wolf reached base four times, with Toyoda picking up a multihit game. Relieving Schneider in the seventh was junior righty Jeremy Stepp, who allowed one run on two hits with a walk in one inning. Amherst (14-1) travels to North Ridgeville on Monday, while Avon (4-10) hosts North Ridgeville on Thursday. "We hold each other accountable," Schneider said. "Coach preaches that we are good individually, but we need to play as a team to achieve what we want to. I feel like we have been doing that well the past couple weeks, and that helps us to have fun and play well." Contact Michael Bonzenta at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.