ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Peyton Drake’s RBI single with two down in the fifth inning Wednesday lifted St. Clairsville to a 2-1 victory against Edison and the Red Devils’ fourth consecutive Buckeye 8 championship — all against the Wildcats.

“We’re pretty proud of that,” an elated St. Clairsville head coach Tom Sliva said. “Anytime you can beat a quality team (like Edison), I mean, they’re as well-coached a team that you’ll find in the valley.

“We’ve just been fortunate. Give our kids credit. I’m really proud of our seniors.”

After struggling to drive in runners with two gone for most of the afternoon at sunny Memorial Park, St. C. finally broke through thanks to a rip to right from its No. 6 hitter, one of those seniors who’d scored the team’s first run an inning earlier.

“Yep, and with two strikes,” Sliva noted about Drake’s game-winning hit. “That was big. He battled.

“And (Derek) Witsberger had a big hit (in the fourth). We just did a nice job of baserunning and some things came together for us.”

Hits were at a premium for both squads — each only collecting three. That, Edison skipper Mike Collopy said, made each scoring opportunity a cherished one.

“We knew it’d be a close game,” said Collopy, whose squad lost to Meadowbrook in the OVAC 4A title game last weekend. “We just didn’t do enough at the plate.

“A lot of credit goes to their pitcher. We swung at too many balls out of the zone early and we really didn’t give ourselves very many opportunities. And, when we did have them, we couldn’t come through with the hits.”

Dustin Carrothers was partly the blame for that. The St. C. southpaw struck out 10 and walked two in earning another victory in a Buckeye 8 title contest. The senior said after the game he thought he’d started all four of his championship appearances, although Sliva couldn’t confirm it — immediately after the game, anyway.

“I’d have to look,” he chuckled. “I don’t know. But I know he has three, that’s for sure.”

Carrothers struck out the side in the first, but not before getting out of a jam that saw Edison get runners on second and third with no outs.

“(Dustin) sucked it up and competed,” Sliva said. “He did one heckuva job.”

From there, the Wildcats connected off Carrothers just twice. But they did score the game’s first run in the third.

Anthony Sinicropi was hit by a pitch to start the inning. A sac bunt by Ryan Higgs moved to him second, while a groundout to first by Alec McBane got him to third. Moments later, he scored on a passed ball.

St. Clairsville (10-8) tied the game in the fourth. After leaving two runners stranded in the first and second, the Red Devils set themselves up by, of all things, a hit by pitch. Drake took one for them team and later ended up at second with no outs on a passed ball. He was soon joined on the basepaths by John Luke DeFilippo, who reached first on an error just past second.

At that point, Collopy replaced starting pitcher Andrew Kinney ( one strikeout, four walks) with Sinicropi, who promptly fanned Tyler Tonkovich for out No. 1. But Witsberger came up next and laced a single to center that tied the game.

“We had some key hits,” Sliva said. “When you play these types of games you’re not going to get 15 hits. So, it’s that one key hit. You have to be able to keep your head up. You might be 0-for-3 then be the hero.”

Which is what Drake was in the fifth.

Carrothers ended up at second after a walk and being moved over on a sac bunt by Jakob Jarvis. Then, two batters later, Drake sliced a shot toright that enabled Carrothers to race home with the gamewinner.

Edison got the game-tying run to third in the sixth with two out, but, with runners at the corners, Carrothers got the Wildcats to hit into a force ending the inning.

“He’s a bulldog,” Sliva said. “I told him in (the seventh) that I might put another guy in right away and he goes ‘I can make it.’ I was like ‘I know you can.'”

The Wildcats fell to 14-4 and play host to Steubenville and Harrison Central on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

St. Clairsville, meanwhile, welcomes John Marshall on Friday for Senior Day.

“All in all,” Sliva said, “I thought we played well defensively, battled at the plate and pitched extremely well.

“There’s a heckuva long way to go, but we just hope to keep improving like everyone else.”