St. Paul one win away from FC title

NORWALK — Lost in the process. On a day the state-ranked St. Paul baseball team made five hits count, the math also moved it closer to a Firelands Conference championship. The Division VII No. 6-ranked Flyers had five extra-base hits in Saturday's 5-1 win over Crestview in a Firelands Conference game at Norwalk Area Contractors Park. With the win, St. Paul improved to 15-2 overall and 10-1 in the FC. The Flyers lead South Central (8-9, 8-3) by two games in the league standings with just three remaining. They need just one win next week against either New London (7-11, 2-9) twice on Monday or Tuesday or Monroeville (11-7, 5-5) on Thursday to clinch no less than a share of the FC title. "It is one more game, but we really don't talk about it much," St. Paul head coach Aaron Fries said. "I try to get lost in the process, and I try to get our team lost in the process. We try to win practices, then come out here and try to win innings, and that leads to winning games. "Then if you win enough games, you win a championship," he added. "But it's one foot in front of the other. It's all about the process. We're going to come out here Monday and honor our seniors and then try and work towards another win." The Flyers struck first with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. Alex Marsh reached on an error, then Landon Fries took a 3-1 pitch deep to left field for a two-run home run. Crestview (8-7, 6-5) cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth, as Kayn Patton hit a leadoff double, then came around to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Grady Cline for a 2-1 deficit. But the Flyers came right back in the bottom half of the fourth. Casey Fries was hit by a pitch for the leadoff runner, but then the Cougars got back-to-back strikeouts for two outs. But again, the Flyers got a clutch hit with two outs, as Izaac Snyder doubled in Casey Fries with a line drive to center for a 3-1 lead. His twin brother, Gabe Snyder, then followed when he hit a 2-2 pitch to the gap for an RBI triple and a 4-1 lead. St. Paul closed out the scoring in the bottom of the sixth. Gabe Snyder and Alex Marsh drew one-out walks, and Landon Fries capped his day with an RBI double to left to plate Gabe Snyder for the 5-1 lead. "That's what we've kind of done all season, and I thought we've been pounding the baseball, but Crestview has good pitching," Coach Fries said. "But five big hits on a day the strike zone was pretty big. "We had to get fastballs in our zone and do something with them when we got them, and that's what the kids did." Izaac Snyder started the game and went the first four innings for the win. He allowed an unearned run on three hits. He struck out eight batters with two walks. Nate Griffin went the final three scoreless innings and allowed just one hit. He struck out three and walked one. "Izaac felt good today, and we just told him he had to hit the strike zone," Coach Fries said. "His defense was playing really well behind him, so as long as he threw strikes and challenged hitters, we thought he'd have a strong game. "And our defense, even though you just never know after five days off, was very good again today. They've been so good this year, especially high-leverage defense." Crestview 000 100 0 — 1 4 2 St. Paul 200 201 x — 5 5 0 WP: I. Snyder; LP: Ernanades 2B: (SP) I. Snyder, L. Fries; 3B: (SP) G. Snyder; HR: (SP) L. Fries