Vianni's 12 K's lead Fairmont Senior to 9-0 shutout of North Marion on the diamond

Apr. 30—FAIRMONT — Playing a game with postseason implications, Fairmont Senior baseball hosted county rival North Marion for a section matchup at Mary Lou Retton Park Monday evening.

Led by the 12 strikeout pitching performance of senior Sammy Vianni and consistent offense throughout the game, Fairmont Senior thoroughly beat North Marion 9-0.

"In-county rivalry, we kind of owed them from last year," Fairmont Senior Head Coach David Ricer said. "We're not done with it yet though. The big thing is that puts us at 4-0 in the section. With the seedings going in tomorrow, that's important."

Vianni pitched a complete seven inning shutout for the Polar Bears. He faced 26, threw 103 pitches, 73 strikes and 12 strikeouts and allowed just five hits. He didn't even walk a batter.

"I just throw a lot of strikes," Vianni said. "Throw a lot of strikes and a lot of off-speed pitches to get them off balance."

Ricer said Vianni was at his best in the win. Ricer said Vianni got a lot of strikeouts early and was ahead of the count most the pitches he threw, allowing him to throw fewer pitches with each batter than usual.

The batting was also at its best for Fairmont Senior. The Polar Bears got nine hits off North Marion's pitching and consistently scored runs in all but one inning. Ricer said the team is focusing better at bat as the season has progressed.

"We noticed the other day down at Williamstown that weren't just swinging for no purpose, just to swing to see if we could kill something," Ricer said. "We were being smart about what our pitch counts were and what our strike counts were. It's starting to pay off. They're starting to get it."

North Marion Head Coach Vic Seccuro gave credit to Vianni for his performance on the mound Monday. While Seccuro wished Vianni would have been pulled before the game ended, he said Vianni was "in control."

Seccuro diagnosed North Marion's loss as a result of the Huskies being their own worst enemy. He specifically mentioned some fielding errors that had an impact on the game.

"We had a double play ball hit right to our pitcher, and he just made an errant throw," Seccuro said. "Things just turned around in their favor, and then they kept chipping away. We just got flat after the 4-0 lead. I just think we're a better ball team than that."

Seccuro said North Marion's batters need to be better when there are two strikes in the count. He said that instead of taking full cuts, batters should try to cut the swing down and force the fielders to make the play.

"You got to cut your swing down a little bit," Seccuro said. "Just got to try and put it in play. Make them perform three fundamentals: they got to field it, throw it and catch it. But striking out, the only thing that's got to happen is the catcher's got to catch the ball."

North Marion sophomore Jackson Waskis got the start for the Huskies. He faced 29 batters in five innings, allowed six runs and eight hits, walked two, hit three by pitch and struck out three.

Senior Captain Weekly relieved Waskis at the start of the sixth and faced three batters, allowed three runs, one hit and walked two. Senior Colin Hess relieved Weekly in the sixth and faced three batters, getting three outs.

Fairmont Senior's first run came on a sacrifice RBI in the first inning. Logan Canfield hit the sacrifice to advance Cam Peschl home for the opening run of the game and a 1-0 Polar Bears lead.

With bases loaded in the bottom of the second, Waskis walked Peschl and sent Hayden Jones home for a run. Later that inning, Vianni hit a two-run RBI double to score Matt Masters and Cannon Dinger to make it a 4-0 game after two innings.

Brayden Gorby came up to bat for Fairmont Senior in the third with Dylan Ours at third. Gorby hit a ground ball right down the third base line past the third baseman. Ours made it home and extended the lead to five runs.

After a scoreless forth inning, Masters stepped up to the plate in the fifth with Gorby on base. Masters' hit went to the left center wall for a double, and Gorby made it home to give Fairmont Senior a 6-0 lead.

North Marion pulled Waskis before the sixth inning started and put in Weekly. Weekly allowed Brock Martin's double to score Canfield and make it 7-0 for Fairmont Senior.

With two runners on base, Weekly came out and Hess came in to pitch for the Huskies. Two batters in with Hess on the mound, Ethan Miller's sacrifice RBI sent home Ours, and Martin reached home after the first baseman's throw went past the third baseman on the same play.

Up 9-0 in the top of the seventh, Vianni had no trouble closing the game. North Marion's Gavin Owens grounded to first for the first out. After allowing two hits to put runners on first and second, Vianni struck out Ryder Bland and Weekly back-to-back to end the game and get the win.

"I think it was a good win," Vianni siad. "We hit good and we pitched good. Feel like we had a few bad hops, but all around we played good."

Fairmont Senior hosts Big X opponent Lincoln on Tuesday for the final conference game of the season. North Marion travels to Mylan Park to play University for a game Seccuro said will be tough. Both teams have one more games before the postseason starts.

Reach Colin C. Rhodes at 304-367-2548