GIRARD — Entering Friday’s playoff game vs. Crestwood at Liberty Park, Girard starting pitcher Cam Herrick wanted to just play baseball and not think about the back injury from which he had been suffering. The senior ace got his wish.
Herrick, who had been dealing with a “really tight” back and lacked run support for most of Friday’s Division V, Northeast 4, sectional final, shut down the Red Devils until his teammates, similarly stymied by Crestwood starter Wyatt Januska, scored three runs in the fifth inning. The Indians then finished off the 3-0 shutout, during which Herrick allowed just a single hit.
“We had our top guy on the mound,” Girard head coach Aaron Alejars said. “We believe we can beat anybody with him on the mound. He’s been in a couple of these postseason games since his sophomore year. … You gotta tip your hat to our top guy, Cam Herrick. What a job being a bulldog.”
Herrick quickly moved through the first two innings, retiring the sides in order, before allowing the first and only hit by Crestwood of the day: Januska, the opposing pitcher, legged out an infield single to the shortstop. Herrick then hit Evan Rhodes with a pitch to put a second runner on base, but he responded with a three-pitch strikeout.
Back on the mound, Herrick quickly got back in a groove, and while the Indians allowed another baserunner with a bad throw to first base on a groundball, their ace recovered and earned his sixth strikeout of the game.
Shortly thereafter, Girard finally broke through at the plate.
To that point, Januska, a Kent State football commit, had been almost as effective as Herrick on the mound, striking out four and surrendering just a pair of hits through the first four innings. But in the bottom of the fifth, Dylan Treveline led off with a single, and Mason Odvar followed with a walk. Joey Tedesco then loaded the bases with a hit to right field.
Joey Alejars brought Treveline across home plate with a well-placed bunt, which Januska slid toward in an unsuccessful attempt, bloodying his left leg in the process. After a forceout at home, a wild pitch by Januska allowed Tedesco to score and take a 2-0 lead. Joey Alejars then scored the Indians’ third and final run on a Bobby Levonyak sacrifice fly.
“I thought early on in the game, going against their top guy, we grinded up at-bats and built his pitch count up,” Aaron Alejars said. “He seemed to lose a little accuracy late there. We stayed persistent with the small ball. … And we kind of preach that – going against somebody’s top guy, every at-bat counts. Once you get 0-2 or 1-2, don’t give in; try to foul one, two, three, four. But try to get his pitch count up because it gets tough when you’re up near 100 [pitches] there.”
At the plate, Crestwood stood no chance against Herrick. Over the final three innings, he retired nine batters in a row and tallied four more strikeouts to reach 10 on the day.
“On the mound, if I hit my spots and they put a bat on the ball, my infield behind me will make plays at the end of the day,” Herrick said.
The win puts 19th-seeded Girard (11-17) in the Northeast 4 district semifinals, where it will face No. 6 Keystone, which beat No. 26 Brooklyn 10-0 in its sectional final Wednesday.
The Indians, who won their first district championship since 1986 a year ago, will have to make the 90-mile drive to LaGrange on Wednesday, and, if successful, will likely play top overall seed Waynedale next Friday in Canton.
“Enjoy this tonight, but don’t be satisfied,” Aaron Alejars said he would tell his team. “A few of these guys got to feel the experience last year – success – so we’ve been in that situation. Guys that have been there expect good things.”
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