by Michael Leonard
Sports Editor
Twinsburg baseball coach Don Jones stresses the need for his team to take things one game at a time.
Given the schedule the Tigers have played this spring, that's probably good advice.
Twinsburg stayed undefeated in the Northeast Ohio Conference Lake Division by winning a pair of contests last week.
The Tigers scratched out a 3-2 win over Nordonia April 30 at home and then pounded out a 10-0 win in five innings over Valley Forge May 5 at home.
With the wins, Twinsburg improved to 14-6, 5-0 in the NOC Lake Division. The Tigers were set to play the return leg at Valley Forge May 6 and travel to Painesville Harvey May 7, but results were not available at press time.
According to Jones, the Nordonia game was a polar opposite of the first game the Tigers played with the Knights -- a 13-2 victory in five innings April 29 at Nordonia.
"Nordonia's pitcher [Alex Smith] did a great job keeping us off balance," Jones said. "He threw one of the best games against us all year. It shows you a lot of character for them to come back against us after losing the way they did the first game."
But while Smith kept the Tigers in check, Twinsburg starter Justin Szydlowski (2-3) was just as sharp. Szydlowski gave up just five hits as he went the distance, giving up no walks and seven strikeouts.
Smith limited the Tigers to seven hits.
"We have shown the ability to scratch out a win when we've needed to and we did it in the bottom of the seventh in this one," Jones said.
Offensively, first baseman Bryan Morton played a big part for the Tigers, as he smacked a solo home run in the fifth inning to tie the game at 2-2.
Morton's blast set up a walk-off win for the Tigers in the bottom of the seventh.
Shortstop Mike Mencini led off the inning with a single and eventually made his way to third base.
With two outs, center fielder Doug Holmes had the chance to be the hero and the Ohio University recruit delivered a run-scoring single to bring home the winning run.
There was no need for such heroics against the Patriots, as Twinsburg dominated the entire game.
Despite starting pitcher Matt Wallin not being at his sharpest (he gave up five walks), Wallin held the Valley Forge to one hit and struck out seven in five innings of work. Wallin improved to 5-1 on the season.
Offensively, Jones said there were plenty of heroes for the Tigers.
"We hit the ball pretty well," Jones said. "We got a couple runs in the first inning and then got seven runs in the third. If you're making good contact with the baseball, good things are going to happen."
Twinsburg banged out 11 hits in the five-inning affair. Szydlowski led the charge, going 2-of-3 with a single, a double and three runs batted in, while lead-off man Omar Santiago went 2-for-3 with two singles and two runs scored.
Wallin also went 2-of-3 with a single, a double, one run and one RBI, while Mencini went 2-of-3 with a single, a double and two RBIs.
Tigers prepare for tough stretch
Jones said next week's schedule might be the toughest stretch of the season, and it's not hard to see why.
First, the Tigers will play a Lake Division home-and-home series with Normandy, which was one game behind Twinsburg in the NOC River Division standings as of press time.
Twinsburg will play at Normandy May 12 at 4:30 p.m. and at Dodge Field against the Invaders May 13 at 4:30 p.m.
Then, Twinsburg will begin its postseason run.
The good news is that the Tigers were given the No. 2 seed in the Division I Hudson district tournament.
The bad news is this: Jones sees no easy contests anywhere in this tournament. Twinsburg will play the winner of Stow-Munroe Falls-Kent Roosevelt game May 15 at home at 4:30 p.m.
"This has got to be the absolute toughest district in the state of Ohio," Jones said.
If the Tigers are victorious, they will be scheduled to play a district semifinal contest May 21 at 7 p.m. at The Ballpark at Hudson.
The district final is set for May 22 at 5 p.m.
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