University vs. Mentor baseball: Preppers push for 5-2 victory over Cardinals in sectional final
May 18—University has had key players battle injuries this season. But when the Preppers welcomed Mentor for a Division I sectional final, they finally zapped the injury bug.
With Aaron Moss and David Faremouth back in the lineup and Evan Shapiro on the mound, the Preppers took an early lead and never looked back. They won, 5-2, and advanced to the district round for the third year in a row.
University heads to Euclid on May 23 for a district semifinal against 19th seed Green in an upset-riddled bracket.
After they went down in order in the first, the Preppers got a pair of runners on base and Tucker Greer stepped to the plate. He hit a ground ball to the shortstop, but the tag by the catcher on Ryan Pattison at home wasn't in time and gave the Preppers the lead.
A passed ball added another run, and Matthew McMahon drove in another that gave University a three-run lead. It's been a revolving door of who makes an impact this season, and the players know it's working.
"That's been the name of the game for our entire season," Pattison said. "With two of our primary guys injured, a team that didn't have as much depth early in the season has seen some young players come in and make big impact all season."
While the bats gave University the lead, Shapiro took the mound and put in a solid outing. He went six innings, gave up two hits and struck out six.
However, the Mentor bats were able to get to him in the fifth. Peyton Zupancic hit a deep double to right that plated the first run for the Cardinals and with the bases loaded, Kayden Burkholder was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Shapiro recovered to force an out against the next batter followed by a quick sixth inning of work.
"I gave up those two and they were entirely on me," Shapiro said. "They had a hard time today hitting the ball. But we still had that one-run lead. There were a lot of walks but I was able to minimize the damage that was done from giving them those bases."
Now with just a one-run lead, the Preppers again had a pair of singles and got two runners on board. Then Pattison stepped into the batter's box.
After he swung at what would have been ball four, the next pitch he took to deep right field to score both base runners and beat the throw to third and pushed the lead back to three runs.
Extra-base hits are nothing new for Pattison this season, as he's driven in 32 runs on 11 doubles and four triples. He is among the area leaders in all three categories.
"It's not something that I need to do for me but rather for my team to get myself into scoring position," Pattison said. "On the bases, it's an interesting mindset of where I'm both thoughtless but also dialed in. Like a tunnel vision style as I was rounding second base."
Even in the loss, Mentor coach Jeff Haase was impressed with how his team approached a deficit against one of the area's best pitchers. While their rally fell short, they had the game-tying run come to the plate in the top of the seventh.
Coupled with a run to the district round from a season ago, Hasse has seen his players work up to challenges and handle high-pressure situations. Coupled with a strong showing by the JV team this season, he knows that the future is bright for the Cardinals.
"I was really proud of our guys and they battled all day today," Haase said. "We were in it to the bitter end and played a solid game. They had a taste last year and coupled with the taste this season, I know they're going to come back hungrier next season."
