Edison's Leimeister hits for the cycle in win

MILAN — Sean Hoover has seen a lot of things. The Edison baseball coach couldn't recall ever seeing one of his own players hit for the cycle. Cole Leimeister is on the list now. Leimeister drove in three runs, helping the Division V No. 5 Chargers to a 11-5 Sandusky Bay Conference crossover win over Sandusky on Saturday. "It feels really good," Leimeister said. "It's definitely a cool moment for me. The wind was blowing out and that really helped me. I timed the pitchers up well and was some barreling some balls." Leimeister hit a home run in the first inning, laced a run-scoring single in the third, tripled to lead off the fifth and doubled in a run to center in the sixth inning. "He's the type of kid that can hit for power, but he's fast enough to get the extra bases with his legs," said Hoover of the senior. "It was one of those days. He squared up and the ball landed in the right spot." Leimeister did his part to prevent a second-straight home loss to Sandusky. Last year, the Blue Streaks gave Edison its first loss of the season, 5-1. "It was definitely in our mind," Leimeister said. "We did not want to lose to them again. We knew we were the better team. We had to come out and play our game." Leimeister's home run in the first inning gave Edison (3-0) a quick 1-0 lead. They battled adversity later, but it was a sign of things to come for the Chargers. "I knew I hit it pretty well, but I didn't think it would go," Leimeister said. "The wind really pushed it up. I think that set the tone for the rest of the game for us." Sandusky (1-1) got a run back in the bottom of the first on a two-out RBI single by Ja'Sayre Poole. The Blue Streaks put together a big second inning to take the lead. Vincent Rose reached on an error before Mykell Ott walked. Edison went for a force play at second on a ball hit by Alakai Mack, but Ott was safe. Deyker Inciarte was then hit by a pitch to bring in a run and end Evan Schnittker's day on the mound. After a pitching change, Ian Preston threw a wild pitch with Raymond Peake at the plate, scoring another run. A few batters later, Braylon Scott roped a two-run single to make it 5-1. Edison answered in the third inning. Weston Hoover walked and Brody McFadden reached on an error. A run scored on a wild pitch before Leimeister's single cut the deficit to 5-3 before Eli Hermes added a RBI single. Edison kept hitting in the fifth inning. Leimeister led off with a triple before scoring on Chaz Smith's sacrifice fly. Hermes followed with a line drive solo home run to give Edison a 6-5 lead. "I didn't get it in the air too much, but the wind helped carry it out of here," Hermes said. "I knew off the bat I was thinking a double. I was hustling down the line. The wind helped push it over the fence." With Preston controlling the Sandusky bats on the other side, the Chargers put the game away in the sixth inning. Preston led off the inning with a solo homer to make it 7-5. Schnittker then followed with a double to end Poole's day on the mound. Mack induced a groundout when he entered, but the throw trying to get Schnittker at third sailed high, allowing a run to score. Bryson Wittmer reached on an error before Leimeister's double into center. Smith walked to load the bases and Hermes extended the lead with a two-run single. "We knew they were going to start timing Poole up," Sandusky coach Zack Moots said. "They did, but he was still mixing them up. It didn't help that we had a couple missed plays, even early on. "We have to do a better job behind our pitchers. As a young team, we can't make those mistakes against top-notch teams like Edison is and the players they have." Preston, a sophomore, allowed one run on four hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out three. "I knew I had to come in and throw strikes," Preston said. "I have a good defense behind me. I knew if I threw strikes, they'd do the rest." He worked from behind, allowing the first runner he faced in five of the six innings he pitched in to reach base. "One thing is I'm not sure we're as deep pitching-wise as we have been," coach Hoover said. "Maybe we don't have the guys that pitch complete games like we have in the past. Ian came in, threw strikes and put up zeros." Poole gave Sandusky another solid start. He ended up allowing eight runs on nine hits while striking out five. He was the winning pitcher Monday when the Blue Streaks defeated Western Reserve. "He's been outstanding for us these first two games," said Moots of the senior. "He's one of those prototypical lefties who doesn't throw hard, but mixes it up. He's a kid where if I asked if he wanted to throw 100 pitches tomorrow, he would. He hit spots all game long." Saturday's game was moved from Sandusky to Edison because of rain late Friday night. Edison liked to play a bigger team than it. The Chargers are in the Bay Division of the SBC while Sandusky is in the Lake Division. "They're fast and athletic," said Hoover of Sandusky. "One thing we've done well this year versus last year is we put a lot of balls on the ground. Last year we hit a lot of flyballs and made it easy on the defense. We want to get it down and make the defense work. "Sandusky has some good arms and some athletes. They put pressure on you on the bases." Edison 103 025 0 — 11 14 1Sandusky 140 000 0 — 5 5 3WP: Preston (1-0). LP: Poole (1-1)2B: (E) Leimeister, Schnittker. 3B: (E) Leimeister. HR: (E) Leimeister, Hermes, Preston