Late Seneca East rally tops St. Paul

NORWALK — The late innings proved costly to the St. Paul baseball team on Monday. Playing in a warmup game for Tuesday's district semifinal, the Flyers took a 4-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning, only to see visiting Seneca East score four times. The Tigers (13-12) then scored a run in the top of the seventh to leave Norwalk Area Contractors Park with a 5-4 win. With the loss, St. Paul fell to 16-9 overall. The Flyers are the No. 2 seed in the Division IV Clyde district. They face No. 4 Old Fort (13-7) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, after top-seeded Hopewell-Loudon (20-3) takes on No. 6 Tiffin Calvert (13-12). The two district games were moved up one day from Wednesday to Tuesday in an attempt to beat expected inclement weather on both Wednesday and Thursday. On Monday, the Flyers scored twice in the top the of the first inning to get started. Kaden Maxwell singled to put two runners on with one out, after Thomas Bocock reached on a fielder's choice. Luke Blum then brought them in with a two-run double to left field. In the bottom of the second, Jaycob Stanley walked and scored on a double by Kole Maxwell for a 3-0 lead. The Flyers then added a fourth run in the bottom of the fourth. Ben Burger reached on an error, then scored on an RBI triple to center by Eli Fisher. In the top of the sixth, the Flyers' Drew Kuhnle got two quick outs — then trouble came in the form of a fielding error. Consecutive singles then loaded the bases for Seneca East with two outs, where another error allowed the first run to score. Three straight walks with the bases loaded then made it a 4-4 game. The Flyers went in order in the bottom of the sixth, and the Tigers scored on two singles around an error in the top of the seventh to take a 5-4 lead. Fisher's third hit of the game put the tying run on to start the bottom of the seventh, but two consecutive fly outs and a ground out ended the game. Kole Maxwell started and went the first two innings. He allowed one hit and struck out three batters with no walks. Kuhnle — who also added a single — went the next 4 1/3 innings, allowing five unearned runs on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks. Stanley recorded the final two outs in the seventh and allowed one hit with a pair of strikeouts and a walk. The Stockaders will start ace Isaac Snyder (6-3) on Tuesday. He has allowed just seven earned runs in 49 innings (1.00 ERA) this season with 61 strikeouts and 24 walks. Outfielders Carter DuBois (.400 average) and Casey Clouse (.443) pace Old Fort at the plate. DuBois has seven doubles and 23 RBIs, while Clouse adds four doubles and 11 RBIs. St. Paul advanced to the game with a 6-3 win over Toledo Christian in a sectional title game on May 19. "We don't know a lot about them, but I know our district is strong," St. Paul head coach Aaron Fries said. "Toledo Christian was the 5 seed, and that was a very good team we beat (last week). We knew that was going to be a grind, so it was hard for me to even think about the next week. "We know we're going to be in for a battle and will have to come out and play just like we did (last week) — and maybe even just a little bit better as far as not being so tight in the beginning," he added. "We'll have to play loose the whole time. The expectation is that is what it's going to take." S. East 000 004 1 — 5 7 1 St. Paul 210 100 0 — 4 7 4 WP: Hines; LP: Stanley 2B: (SP) Maxwell, Fisher, Blum