Harrison Central shortstop Kaden Jurosko backhands a ground ball during Wednesday’s game at Mazeroski Field against Edison.

CADIZ — Harrison Central had hoped to celebrate a Buckeye 8 North Championship on their gorgeous Mazeroski Field diamond Wednesday afternoon.

All the Huskies needed was a repeat victory over an Edison club they just defeated on Monday in Richmond.

The Wildcats, however, had other ideas.

Edison struck for three runs in both of the second and third innings and got good enough pitching from freshman starter Brady Haught and Brayden Moses, who worked the final three innings to earn the save, in the 6-4 victory over the Huskies.

“Our kids have been competing in every game,” Wildcats head coach Mike Collopy said. “We’ve had an odd last couple of weeks where we’ve been behind (in games) a lot, but the kids compete. We did a really good job (Wednesday) against a good team.”

While Edison was pounding out hits up and down the order, especially in the two innings when it did its offensive damage, Harrison Central simply couldn’t deliver a big hit despite countless opportunities.

Harrison Central was retired in order in nary an inning. It left the bases loaded three times, including in both the sixth and seventh innings. And in total, Harrison stranded 15 runners.

“Offensively, it felt like we left a small village on base,” Harrison Central head coach Mike Valesko said. “It felt like we had guys on base every inning and just didn’t get it done. We had a few times where we got the lead-off guy on and had too many unproductive outs where we didn’t even advance a runner.”

Meanwhile, Edison cashed in time and time again against Harrison Central starter Tucker Snyder, who was tagged for 10 hits and all six runs.

“I thought we had some good at-bats early in the game,” Collopy said. “Everyone really stepped up. I thought we pitched well and we played a really good game defensively. We have a club that likes to compete for seven innings and 21 outs and as long as they keep giving us that, good things are going to happen.”

In the second inning, the Wildcats did all of their damage with two outs. Snyder recorded the first outs of the frame with relative ease before Edison strung together four hits and an intentional walk.

Bryce Rogers — hitting in the ninth spot — singled home Chase Freeman, who ignited the rally with a double.

After Moses got his second of three singles in the game, Kyle Long doubled to the fence in left, scoring Gage Cline and Rogers.

Edison tacked on runs in the third.

Hunter Rothacker singled and moved around to third on a double by J.D. Henderson. They were both promptly driven in by Liam Watson on a base knock. Watson scored after two outs were recorded on a Rogers double.

“They had some really good at-bats against Tucker and made us work (defensively) for everything,” Valesko said. “They got guys on base, put the ball in play, moved runners around. They only struck out twice. I thought they were really good offensively.”

Harrison Central’s offense cut into the deficit in the third when seniors Tre Rex and Cabot Arbaugh both had run-scoring singles.

In the fourth, the Huskies squandered a golden opportunity when they got as lead-off double from Reed Arbaugh and eventually had runners on the corners with just one out. Haught, making just his second varsity start, proceeded to induce lazy fly balls to center and left, respectively to escape the jam.

Moses pitched himself out of a jam in the sixth by striking out the side. And in the seventh, Edison was in another precarious situation when it watched Harrison load the bases to bring up University of Dayton signee Treston Nemeth.

He induced a walk for his lone RBI of the game and then Moses recorded a strikeout to end the game.

As it turned out, Harrison Central still captured the Buckeye 8 North and earned the right to play for the league title once again because of Indian Creek’s loss to East Liverpool.

With today and Friday as scheduled days off, Harrison Central shifts its focus to Saturday’s OVAC Class 4A Tournament. The Huskies expect to be on the road for a semifinal game. The locations and game times will be announced today.