Boys Best of the Week: Marion Harding scores upset of two-time league champ Highland
MARION — Marion Harding gave the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference baseball standings an early jolt.
Playing the two-time defending MOAC champs, the Presidents trailed Highland 1-0 late in the game, but tied it up in the sixth on a run by Ray J Scott-Harbolt. Then with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Scott-Harbolt delivered a game-winning RBI to lift his team to an upset win.
More: Girls Best of the Week: River Valley softball run-rules its way to three victories
Go vote: Who won last week's polls and who is nominated for this week's Marion Star polls
Nathan Cunningham had a double, while Gavyn Baumgartner and Austin Allen teamed for a three-hitter for Harding. The Scots got 11 strikeouts in five-and-⅓ innings, giving up four hits and no walks, from Kort Sears.
Heading into this week, Galion leads the standings at 2-0, while Harding is 1-0 and Shelby had yet to play a league game. Highland and Ontario both have a conference loss, while River Valley, Pleasant and Clear Fork have two MOAC losses.
Here are more highlights from last week around the Marion area in boys spring sports:
More Baseball
● Highland bounced back for a 9-4 victory over Bloom-Carroll. Zach Church allowed five hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts in three innings as Jace Brooks and Drew Altizer each pitched two innings in relief. Church and Hayden Kline both had a pair of hits, while Sears doubled twice for two RBIs, and leadoff hitter Jayden Collins singled and walked three times to score three runs
● Lancaster beat Marion Harding in a doubleheader 8-2 and 10-1. Scott-Harbolt doubled and singled in the first game, and the Prexies were held to four hits in the second game.
● Northmor and Mount Gilead needed nine innings before Northmor prevailed 2-1 in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference. Grant Bentley and Trevor Brubaker teamed for the Golden Knights, giving up seven hits and five walks with 12 strikeouts. Bentley added three singles as did Garrett Harvey, while Bryce Cooper had two. For Mount Gilead, Gage Baker pitched eight innings, striking out nine and walking two. Cam Vickers doubled and singled, and Kyle St. Clair singled twice.
● In the rematch, Northmor won 5-2 over the Indians as Drew Hammond tossed a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts and two walks, plus hit a home run. Cooper and Cole Cuffman each singled twice. For MG, Hayden Pangborn and Vickers struck out seven, walked four and allowed just one earned run against 10 hits.
● Elgin topped Cardington 7-4. Elgin's Mitchell Askew got the win in scattering six hits with eight strikeouts and one walk for no earned runs. Quinten Harrison pitched in relief for the save. Donaven Stith and Jacob Brown both had two singles and two RBIs. For Cardington, A.J. Hall and James Fiant allowed 10 hits, three earned runs, one walk and struck out seven. Denton Garrison singled twice for the Pirates.
● Four Pleasant pitchers teamed in a 5-0 win over Cardington, allowing five hits and four walks with six strikeouts. Trent Caudill had two RBI for Pleasant. Merek McClure led the Pirates with three singles and Denton Garrison doubled, while on the mound Wyatt Wade struck out 12, walked none, gave up two hits and one earned run in five-and-⅓ innings of relief work.
● Cardington rebounded for a 12-1 five-inning victory over Mansfield Christian. Fiant, Evan Marquis and Fisher Schuman combined for a one-hitter with six strikeouts and six walks. Cardington had eight singles.
● North Union scored two runs in the third inning and made them stand in a 2-1 victory over Indian Lake. Landon Converse doubled, and Caden Potts singled twice, while Tyler Krebehenne worked a three-hitter with four walks and three strikeouts.
● In a 6-5 North Union victory over Ridgemont, the Wildcats scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull it off. Potts doubled and singled twice, plus struck out 13 with two walks and one hit in the first five innings. Evan Beery added two singles. In another close one, NU fell to Indian Lake 8-7 in nine innings. Berry and Conner Lassiter doubled and had two RBIs each.
● River Valley dropped a doubleheader with London, losing 8-2 in the first and 7-6 in the second. RV was held to four hits in the opener with Hudson Pollock hitting a double. In the second game, J.R. Bates started the first five innings, striking out two and walking one in allowing two earned runs. Hayden Kanagy hit a double and single for four RBIs, while Aiden Gray doubled and singled, and Pate Crawford singled twice.
Tennis
● Pleasant blanked Bucyrus 5-0 as Alex Yancy, Cael Bowers and Landon Severns all won in singles and Ryen Wansik/Brady Werling and Griffin Gleespen/Luke Russel won in doubles. The Spartans fell to Galion 4-1 with Glesspen and Russel winning in second doubles, and Yancy and Severns losing two tough three-setters in singles.
● Marion Harding beat Pleasant and Kenton by 5-0 scores. Picking up wins for the Presidents were Alexander Liesicki, Sebastian Lisiecki, Reagan Tway, Evan Britt, Andres Rosas, Cameron Williams and Carter Rawlins.
Track and Field
● Northmor won the Mike Armstrong Invitational in Cardington with 216.5 points, while the hosts were fourth and Gilead Chrsitian sixth. Cowin Becker and Levi Hunter were double winners, as Becker took the long jump in 19 feet, 8 1/2 inches and the 400 meters in 53.62 seconds and hunter took the pole vault at 12-0 and 300 hurdles in 46.05. Also for the Golden Knights, Ryan Lehman won the 1600 in 4:55.67 as did David Blunk in the 3200 in 10:28.2, the 4x800 relay in 9:01.49, the 4x200 in 1:36.91 and the 4x400 in 3:41.88. Aidan Reitmire was Cardington's lon winner in the 800, clocking a 2:10.16.
● Nine teams competed in Ridgedale's David Schoor Memorial with Mechanicsburg winning it with 134 points. The Rockets were sixth and Elgin eighth. Finishing in the top four for Ridgedale were the 4x800 (second, 8:37.1), the 4x200 (third, 1:40.02), Brogan Weston (third, 1600, 4:43.1; third 3200, 10:23.25), Breyton Richmond (third, 400, 54.91), Evan Ricketts (fourth, 400, 55.3), Isaac Lust (third, 800, 2:09.24), and Landon Murphy (first, long jump, 19-11). For Elgin, Ronnie Newman was third in the long jump at 18-10, the 4x200 fourth in 1:40.97 and the 4x100 fourth in 47.95.
● North Union was runner-up at the 11-team Triad Invitational. Scoring wins for the Wildcats were Griffin Osborne in the 100 in 11.4, Henry Hayward in the pole vault at 12-0 and Wyatt Davis in the long jump at 19-7.75. Taking runner-up spots were the 4x100 relay in 46.16, Osborne in the long jump at 19-6.75 and Braedon Scowden in the triple jump at 36-6.75. Ending third were Carter Skaggs in the 200 hurdles at 28.74 and Zach Meyer in the 800 at 2:09.62. Finishing fourth were Skaggs in the 110 hurdles at 16.5, Tyler Huff in the 3200 at 10:58.15, the 4x400 in 3:51.84 and Owen Hoffer in the discus at 124-0.
Coaches and statisticians are encouraged to send their results to the Marion Star's Rob McCurdy at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, X @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.
Vote: Marion Star Boys Best of the Week Performer Poll
● Northmor baseball's Drew Hammond pitched a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts and two walks, plus hit a home run in a win over Mount Gilead.
● Marion Harding baseball's Ray J Scott-Harbolt scored the game-tying run then came back in the seventh inning to deliver the game winning RBI over Highland.
● North Union baseball's Caden Potts hit a double and two singles, plus stuck out 13 with one hit allowed and two walks over five innings on the mound in a win over Ridgemont.
● River Valley baseball's Hayden Kanagy drove in four runs with a double and single in a loss to London.
● Ridgedale track's Landon Murphy won the long jump at 19 feet, 11 inches at the home David Schorr Memorial Invitational.
● Voting for this week's poll will continue through early Sunday morning at MarionStar.com and its app.
● Winning last week's boys poll with 322 votes (32 percent) out of 1,006 was River Valley's Ethan Lyon, who won the discus in 157-10 and the shot put in 56-0.5 at Colonel Crawford's Grove Keller Invitational. Other nominees were Highland baseball's Hayden Kline, Elgin baseball's Donaven Stith, Marion Harding track's Carter Ferguson and Pleasant track's Hudson Warner.
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Boys Best: Who did well in baseball, tennis, track last week?
