Braylon Cordonnier submarines this line drive in Friday’s win over Northmor, one of his three hits in a 6-1 Raider win. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Julie Wright and Sonny Fulks)
#4-ranked Russia played through mistakes and eight walks, but scored enough to knock out #3-ranked Northmor, and unranked Troy Christian made Bradford pay for too many free bases with a pair of six run innings to advance to Friday’s Div. IV regional final.
Cincinnati, OH – When it was over Russia coach Kevin Phlipot had to admit, “We didn’t play our best baseball today.”
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But it was good enough, because the #4-ranked Raiders (27-2) unquestionably had the best player on the field in Friday’s semi-final round of the Division IV regional tournament at Princeton High School. That would be junior Braylon Cordonnier, a Division I Marshall University commit, who pitched 6.1 innings of 2-hit baseball, and went three for four at the plate with a triple and three RBIs to power Russia to a 6-2 win over Galion Northmor, the #3-ranked team in the state.
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“Braylon is a difference maker, and he made the difference today,” said Phlipot. “Look, this is the best he’s hit all year in this tournament run, and when the pitching is supposed to be better. He is our security blanket, and he was not by any means on top of it today. But he still found a way – one of his most competitive games, one of his toughest games mentally, and he gave up two hits. He battled all day.”
His battle, principally was throwing strikes. Normally dependable, Codonnier walked seven, and hit a pair in his 6.1 innings of work, but seemed to make the adjustments along the way to keep an aggressive-hitting Northmor lineup at bay, striking out nine while allowing just a single in the first, and another in the fifth inning.
“I just didn’t feel comfortable,” said Cordonnier, afterwards. “I had a hard time getting a feel for the mound, obviously I had trouble throwing strikes, but my guys had my back at the plate and in the field. They made things work.”
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And right from the start…Russia scored a pair of runs in the first off Northmor starter Trevor Brubaker on a hit batsman, a pair of singles by Hayden Quinter and Jude Counts, and had a third run wiped out by a runner’s interference call at second base.
In. the second they added three more on a pair of singles and a ringing triple by Cordonnier to right field that one-hopped the wall. Cordonnier would later score on a single by teammate Brayden Monnin…5-0 Russia.
Russia’s Brayden Monnin attempts to score in the Raiders two-run first inning in their win over Northmor.
Northmor is a good baseball team, and good enough to settle down in the middle innings behind Brubaker. But they couldn’t dent Cordonnier on the mound despite him walking seven and hitting a pair of Knights’ batters.
“Clearly not my best,” admitted Cordonnier.
And not Russia’s best baseball, overall, as Kevin Phlipot watched in frustration as the Raiders had three base runners picked off and tagged out for sloppy base running.
But still, timely hitting by Russia, amounting to eleven hits by game’s end was more than enough to support some sloppy play and the failure to throw strikes. Cordonnier, Jude Counts and Brayden Monnin all had three-hit games, and as fate would have it those hits came with the sacks jammed with teammates.
“We were confident at the plate,” said Phlipot. “We hunted the fastball, they didn’t beat us with it, and when they tried to pitch us away I just said “go with it”. We made some mistakes on the bases, but I was OK with that because we’ve been aggressive on the bases in the tournament and we’re not stopping now.
Russia runs down a Northmor runner caught off base during Thursday’s 6-1 win over the Knights.
“It might have cost us a couple of bigger innings, but when you’re ahead you can afford to be more aggressive.
Russia added its final run in the top of the seventh on hits by Cordonnier, Monnin and Counts, and when Cordonnier clearly tired in the bottom of the seventh, Northmor scored its only run off him before he was relieved by Monnin to secure the final two outs.
Russia won it with six runs on eleven hits and one error, while Northmor bowed out of the tournament with two runs on three hits and had no errors.
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So Friday at 5 pm they’ll meet Troy Christian, who’s unranked and unfazed by it, coached by Tony Ferraro in his ninth season at TC, who at 11-14 must be one of the true surprises in the regional round all over the state.
Behind the gutty pitching of Judah Simmons, Ferraro’s Eagles scored 13 runs on just 6 hits to take down Bradord and the ‘Roaders’ ace righthander, Tucker Miller.
Troy Christian’s Judah Simmons allowed just 3 hits and struck out 8 in his six innings of work.
Miller, a confident and dependable stopper throughout the past two years, simply could not throw strikes dependably on Thursday, walking nine and hitting three while pitching through the sixth.
And after Bradford took an early 1-0 lead off Simmons in the first, Miller was dominant through the first three, striking out five.
But in the fourth…TC stretched together three hits, three walks, and a hit batsman off Miller to scored six times and take a 6-1 lead.
Then…what goes around, comes around, as Simmons had his own issues in the bottom of the fourth while giving up three hits, a pair of walks, and an error behind him allowing Bradford four runs and draw within a run, 6-5.
Troy Christian, playing in just its first regional semi-final in the history of the school, certainly gave no signs of caving. The Eagles scored immediately in the top of the fifth to extend their margin on a hit, a hit batsman, and an RBI single by Andrew Knostman…7-5 Eagles.
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“Bottom line, getting here has been a long road,” said Ferraro, who’s best remembered for his time at Wayne, previously. “We made a lot of mistakes early in the year, we lost our home field for two weeks because of flooding, and then we started getting better. We’re still making too many mistakes, but I like the way we’re swinging the bats. And I’ve got two very, very good pitchers.”
Good bats, and good pitchers will win you games, and the bats showed up again in the top of the seventh when Miller walked the bases loaded, walked in a run, and then gave up a pair of hits and a hit batsman, amounting to six Troy Christian runs, and the nail in the coffin.
Bradford would come back to tack on a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Carson Dyer, but those runs were academic.
Troy Christian won it to move on with 13 runs on just 6 hits, and committed 2 errors.
Bradford finished 18-9 with 6 runs on just 4 hits and had no errors.
It’s hard to find a more enthusiastic, energetic personality in high school baseball than Tony Ferraro, and after all these years, and his time on Dorset Street, in Troy, his Eagles will play in a regional final against Russia on Friday. And largely, off the efforts of pitcher Judah Simmons.
“It wasn’t his best day,” said Ferraro. “He didn’t have his good stuff, but he gave a gutty performance. He had thrown three straight shutouts before today, and two of them had been in tournament games. He didn’t have his good stuff, but he didn’t give in. He was a bulldog out there.
Troy Christian won the game, but Bradford’s Colton Gambill gets the prize for best catch of the day…this over-the-shoulder snare in the third inning.
“Our offense got us some timely hits, and not only that…we had some two-out hits. And when you get two-out hits, hit the ball the other way and don’t try to hit it out of the park…good things can happen.
“And we’re proud of our kids playing tomorrow. We know we’re going to have a tough one with Russia, and we’re going to have to compete. But I like our chances.”
It’ll be 11-14 Troy Christian versus 27-2 Russia, and Russia is playing for a third consecutive trip to Akron next week with a chance to appear in their third Division IV final.
Tony Ferraro may like his chances, but Kevin Phlipot has known success and has the experience of big wins in big games.
Including, you’ll remember…the biggest game!
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