St. Francis tops Perrysburg 10-5 in regionals

5/30/2013

BOWLING GREEN -- In the unofficial championship of northwest Ohio high school baseball for 2013, St. Francis de Sales took area bragging rights in a battle of state-ranked teams Friday with a 10-5 victory over Perrysburg in a Division I regional semifinal played at Stellar Field.

The fourth-ranked Knights (29-2) used four-run rallies in the third and sixth innings, each time with two outs, and rolled to a spot in Saturday's regional final.

St. Francis will play 17th-ranked Cleveland St. Ignatius (25-6) at 5 p.m. at Case Western Reserve University inCleveland. St. Ignatius advanced by beating Avon Lake 3-2 in a regional semifinal played at Case Western Friday.

The Knights will be bidding for the school’s fourth trip to the state final four, having lost in the semifinals to the eventual state champion in 1972, 1974, and 1999.

Fifth-ranked Perrysburg, champion of the Northern Lakes League, bows out at 27-4. The Yellow Jackets were D-I state runners-up in 2011.

St. Francis got RBIs in the third inning on a triple from Miccoy Drzewiecki, a double from winning pitcher Max Lyon, and a single from Andy Okuley, chasing Jackets starting pitcher Nick Munger.

After a 30-minute lightning delay with two outs in the sixth inning, the Knights got a two-run single from Eric Zmuda, and a two-run double from Cody Lewis off of Jackets reliever A.J. Stockwell to up their lead to 9-1.

Lyon, who tripled and scored the Knights' 10th run in the seventh, was 3-for-4 at the plate.

Perrysburg staged a rally in the bottom of the seventh, using four singles, a walk, and an error to plate four runs against Knight relievers Kenzie Mayo, Jake Lang, and Michael Wagner. But Wagner retired Seth Durham on a foul popout for the final out.