Edison tops St. Paul in slugfest

NORWALK — One glance at the boxscore told the day of the week. "That was a classic Saturday game," Edison baseball coach Sean Hoover said following a 17-6 win over host St. Paul in a non-conference game at Norwalk Area Contractors Park. The Chargers (6-2) and Flyers (6-3) had six pitchers combine to throw 286 pitches in a game that saw 23 runs scored on 32 hits over the span of two hours and 36 minutes. There were four half-innings of four runs or more between the two programs, which have both been consistent winners in the SBC Bay Division and Firelands Conference over the past five years. Edison held a 7-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, only to give up six runs in the bottom half of the inning. The Flyers also had two runners on base to end the fifth and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. An obvious question for both teams is what can be deciphered from a non-league matchup that produces inflated numbers. But from his perspective, Hoover didn't hesitate. There was no 2020 season. Not only is he just happy to be on the field with his Charger players, but there is critical development taking place that all teams lost a year ago. "We're still learning a lot about our kids and our team in general," Hoover said. "We were going to be very young last year, so for us, these kind of games are very important. We get to have kids see a lot of live pitching and get more of an idea of where we are as a team and some adjustments we need to make — and to see which kids are going to be able to step up in big-time situations. "After losing last year, continuing to play and learn and get better is a good thing," he added. "We'll take a game every chance we get." The view in the home dugout from Saturday was similar. "I don't want to minimize it, I wanted us to play really well today and we thought with our pitching that we could be competitive," St. Paul coach Aaron Fries said. "We knew Edison was a good team, but so are we. To me, these kind of games are big for schools like ours. We're a smaller school, and anytime we can play a bigger school that is a quality program like Edison, that's a good thing. They are well-coached, they have a great history …anytime we can compete with a team like them, it bodes well for us." Fries found himself in the unique situation of losing 2020 as a first-year coach. It's why days like Saturday aren't just considered filler on the schedule. "We absolutely took this game serious," he said. "We wanted to play well. Make no mistake about it, this was a big game — and Edison just played better than us today. They hit the ball better, they played catch better. They outplayed us. "We had opportunities to make plays in critical situations, and we just didn't make them defensively," he added. "When you do that, and give extra at-bats to a team with lineup like Edison's, you'll pay the price. That's what happened today." The Chargers scored five runs in the top of the second, all with two outs, Bryce Michaelis singled in Keegan Smith, who had also reached with a one-base hit. Leading 1-0, Thomas Simon singled and Luke Bissell was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brady Barker and Clint Finnen then each followed with two-run singles to push the lead out to 5-0. In the top of the second, Edison again had two outs and a runner on second. Consecutive singles by Bissell and Barker added two more runs for the 7-0 lead. St. Paul then got going in the bottom of the fourth, as a leadoff triple by Scotty Adelman and an RBI single from Tyler Perkins got the Flyers o the board. Luke Blum then followed with a single, and Thomas Bocock did the same on an RBI base hit to center to score Perkins for a 7-2 deficit. An RBI single from Kole Maxwell plated Blume, then No. 9 hitter Jayden Hipp came through with a two-run double for a 7-5 deficit. Hipp then managed to score on a passed ball and a wild pitch, and just like that the Flyers were down 7-6 through four innings. The Chargers had an immediate answer, however. Simon opened the top of the fifth with a double, and Kaden Maxwell, on in relief for Eli Fisher, hit consecutive batters to load the bases with one out. Fries then switched Blum to the mound, but he was greeted by a two-run double from Finnen and an RBI single from Dominic Dymond to extend the Edison lead to 10-6. The Chargers then got an RBI groundout from Andrew Neate to make it 11-6. "Hayden (Fox) threw a great game," Hoover said of his starting pitcher. "They started to hit him a little bit, he probably got tired. It was his first start of the year and they hit the ball well that inning. We didn't do anything wrong defensively that inning, St. Paul just squared up the ball." But Hoover noted his team never gave up the lead, which proved critical. "If you do your job early, you can afford for a couple things to go wrong," he said. "If we're striking out too much early and not scoring, those six runs are bigger for them. "But we still had the lead, and the best part was we answered right away with four more," he added. "We got guys on base right away and were able to score and get that cushion back." After reliever Joey Pennell left two Flyers stranded in the bottom of the fifth, the Chargers came back with another four-run sixth to effectively put the game away. Simon hit an RBI single, Finnen added an RBI on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded, and Dymond followed with a two-run double to put Edison ahead 15-6. Ryan Tallman added an RBI single and Finnen walked with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh to close out the scoring. "We did a good job with two strikes," Hoover said. "We didn't necessarily hit the ball hard, but we fouled off a lot of pitches and made their pitchers work until we got some balls that we were able to hit — and we got a couple bloopers to drop in to keep innings going. "At the end of the day, you have to be able to put the ball in play and make things happen. We were able to score a lot because we did that." Simon was 5 for 5 with a double, an RBI and scored four times for the Chargers. Barker was 4 for 4 with three RBIs and scored three times, while Finnen was 2 for 5 with a double and six RBIs. Dymond finished 4 for 6 with a double and three RBIs, while Max Hoover and Michaelis each added two hits. For St. Paul, Adelman was 3 for 4 with a triple, while Perkins was 2 for 4 with an RBI and Blum was 2 for 2. In a five-game span over a seven-day period, Blum was 14 for 17 batting with seven RBIs. "We did a good job trying to fight our way back into it," Fries said. "We got ourselves in a hole, but Edison is a very good team that hit the ball well, and we knew that coming in. They put the ball in play and scored early. "I'm trying to challenge the kids to be better early, to try and scrape a few runs there, and we didn't do that today — and haven't been doing it consistently," he added. "But we did keep battling and put up six runs to get right back in it, and I'm proud of that. We got some kids on base from the bottom of the lineup who had been struggling, so that was good to see. That's something we can use going into Monday." St. Paul (2-0 FC) hosts Crestview (2-5, 0-2) on Monday and visits the Cougars on Tuesday in a pair of FC games. Edison (2-0 Bay) hosts Port Clinton Monday and visits Margaretta on Wednesday in league play. Edison 052 044 2 — 17 22 0 St. Paul 000 600 0 — 6 10 2 WP: Fry; LP: Fisher 2B: (E) Simon, Finnen, Dymond, Hoover; (SP) Hipp; 3B: (SP) Adelman