May 19, 2001

Baseball stories

Senecas win in first round of SMCC Invite

SANDUSKY -- Calvert improved to 14-7 and advanced to the semifinals of the Sandusky St. Mary's Invitational with an 8-4 win over St. Mary's.

The Senecas face Sandusky at 3:30 p.m. today, while Huron, Margaretta or Norwalk will be the other finalist.

"I was surprised that Brad (Elchert) homered, because the wind was blowing in the and air was so heavy that nothing was really carrying," Calvert coach Rick Demith said. We hit a lot of line drives and a lot of hard ground balls and just kind of singled them to death. When we're relaxed, we play very well."

After giving up four runs in the first two innings, Calvert's Andy Ritzler settled down to finish with three strikeouts and seven walks in 6 1/3 innings to pick up the win and improve to 1-1. Brad Elchert got the save, striking out two. Calvert took the lead for good when three runs in the third inning to make it 5-4, and solidified the lead with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth.

Gino Paulus (run, two RBIs) and Adam Reinhart (two runs) had three hits apiece for the winners, and Elchert hit a solo home run in the fourth. Ben Stover scored a run and drove in two with two hits, and Shawn Wilson (run, RBI) and Ritzler (RBI) added two hits each. Eric Martorana singled and scored two runs, and Greg Frank had a hit and an RBI.

Raiders fall short in bid for winning season

GENOA -- Genoa scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning and came away with a 3-2 win over Lakota.

It was the season finale for Lakota, which finishes 13-14 overall and 6-8 in the Suburban Lakes League. The Raiders were outhit by Genoa 11-5.

Adam Johnson fell to 4-4 with the pitching loss, despite giving up no earned runs in three innings. He struck out one, walked two and gave up four hits. Johnson had come on in relief of starter Fred Keith, who gave up one run in three innings.

Tim Ray singled and drove in a run for the Raiders.