Ironton SL All-Stars beat up on Miami in 5 innings

Published 2:51 am Monday, July 27, 2009

ASHTABULA — If they called for a hit doctor, it would have been to give medical attention to the baseball.

The Ironton Senior League All-Stars beat up the baseball as they banged out 13 hits and blanked the Miami All-Stars 10-0 in five innings Sunday in the state tournament.

“We stung the ball again,” said Ironton manager Chuck Price. “We hit outs as hard as I’ve seen. We didn’t hit any home runs, but we hit the ball harder than we have all year. We picked the right time to peak. Even our guys off the bench got hits.”

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Tanner Riley led the hit parade as he went 3-3 with a double and three runs batted in.

Jonathan Williams was 2-3 with two RBI, Wayne Sparks 1-2 with a double and Tres Wilks 2-2. Justin Mahlmeister and Tyler Kratzenberg also had hits.

Kyle Dickess, who was 2-4 at the plate, got the complete game shutout win. He struck out eight and allowed just one hit. He walked only one.

“Dickess threw really well. His ball was moving pretty good,” said Price. “And we played good defense behind him.”

The win puts Ironton in the championship game of the winner’s bracket on Tuesday against Berlin Hiland at 3 p.m. Hiland beat Elyria Northwest 2-1.

For the second straight day Ironton put up a four spot in the first inning.

In the bottom of the first, Dickess and Williams both doubled for a run to start the inning. Jake Murphy walked and Sparks doubled home two runs. Riley’s base hit scored Sparks to make it 4-0.

Miami failed to score in the second inning and Ironton came right back with four more runs in the bottom of the inning.

Wilks had leadoff single and Dickess and Williams singled for a run. Murphy walked, Sparks hit a sacrifice fly and Riley singled home two more runs.

Ironton put the game away with a pair of runs in the fourth inning.

Riley opened the inning with a double. Mahlmeister singled home pinch-runner Jared Eldridge and Kratzenberg delivered the clinching blow with an RBI double.

It was the second straight day the Ironton All-Stars posted a five-inning mercy rule win. They had an 11-1 win over Hardscrabble of Dayton on Saturday.

Miami 000 00 = 0 1 2

Ironton 440 2x = 10 13 2

Huff, Smith (4) and Hesford. Kyle Dickess and Jake Murphy. W-Dickess (8-K, 1-BB). L-Huff. 2B-Ironton: Wayne Sparks, Kyle Dickess, Jonathan Williams, Tanner Riley, Tyler Kratzenberg. Hitting-Miami: McClease 1-2; Ironton: Kyle Dickess 2-4, Jonathan Williams 2-3 (2-rbi), Wayne Sparks 1-2 3-rbi, Tanner Riley 3-3 3-rbi, Justin Mahlmeister 1-1 rbi, Tommy Waginger 1-3, Tres Wilks 2-2, Tyler Kratzenberg 1-1 rbi.