Clear Fork tops Eastwood 9-1 in D-III Regionals

ELIDA - And then there was one.

The Clear Fork baseball team is the only local baseball squad still alive in the state playoffs, defeating Eastwood High School 9-1 on Thursday in the D-III Regional semifinals. Their secret? According to coach Rusty Staab, it's the spaghetti sauce at team dinners.

"The last time we had a spaghetti dinner at the house on Friday night it was before the Newark Catholic game (on April 30) and we won 11-0," Staab said. "So on the way here a couple of the seniors were like, 'You know what? We had pasta last night, so maybe we'll put up some runs.' Well we did, so it must be in the sauce."

After giving up a run in the bottom of the third to tie the game 1-1, the Colts smashed their way through the Eagles' defense with five runs in the top of the fourth, then added another trio of runs in the final inning for good measure.

Relief pitcher Jared Smith picked up the victory on the mound by throwing a shutout for the last 4 1/3 innings of the game. The junior was thrown into a tough spot in the third inning after starter Shane Klenk hit Colin Dewese with a pitch to load the bases, but he managed to escape the inning unharmed.

"That's what I'm here for," Smith said. "I just go in there and I'm always praying I get them out of it."

"He did awesome," Staab said regarding Smith. "That reminded me of the game last year when we played Ashland. We had a 5-3 lead and he just kept doing exactly what he did (today); he threw strikes, he got groundouts, he got fly balls. A couple hits here and there, but he kept us in the game and that was huge for our pitching because now we can save Jalen Sherriff for tomorrow."

The Colts (18-12) face Archbold in their first trip to the Regional Championship under Staab since 2000. Staab said he's going with freshman Mitch Dulin as the starting pitcher, thinking it's the best possible matchup against the (22-8) Blue Streaks.

"We all have confidence when he throws," Staab said. "It's a perfect situation. And we're playing probably the best team in the state. If we play like that and get some fortunate hits that fall in and play good defense like we did today, who knows?"

The D-III Regional Championship game takes place at Ed Sandy Field at Elida Middle School 5 p.m. Friday.