Photo by Kim North St. Clairsville’s Hunter Hoffman follows through after delivering a pitch to the plate Tuesday against East Liverpool in the OVAC Class 4A semifinal on the Memorial Park diamond. The top-seeded Red Devils rolled to a 10-0 victory in five innings as Hoffman allowed just two hits.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — It was a mismatch on paper…and it was a mismatch on the playing field.

Top-seeded and reigning conference champion St. Clairsville rolled past outmanned and fourth-seeded East Liverpool in five innings, 10-0, in an OVAC 4A semifinal contest at Memorial Park Tuesday afternoon.

The Red Devils’ 18th win in 20 starts propels them into Saturday’s championship game against Indian Creek which defeated Cambridge. It will be a rematch of last year’s championship tilt.

St. C.’s latest diamond triumph came to fruition as a result of a host of factors — the biggest being Hunter Hoffman.

The senior dandy tossed a two– hit gem while also unloading three hits himself. The southpaw ace needed only 55 pitches in recording the shutout. He fanned seven and didn’t issue a walk.

East Liverpool fell to 8-10.

“Hunter was exceptional today,” Red Devils’ Hall of Fame manager Tom Sliva said. “He had total command of all three of his pitches. Hunter also came up big at the plate.”

Hoffman, a Walsh University recruit, is now rounding back into top form. He incurred a major elbow injury in his pitching arm this past summer.

Sliva’s well– drilled charges had their hitting shoes on, producing 15 safeties. Nine different Devils recorded a hit.

Hoffman’s hurling heroics and the St. C. hitting explosion were complemented by solid defense play, featuring web gems from D– I shortstop recruit Braylen Blomquist, third baseman Nico Jacob and Hoffman.

“We played with an attitude today. That hasn’t always been the case this year,” Sliva said. “The guys were focused and really came to play today. We need to continue to play this way.

“Making the OVAC finals is always one of our goals. So we have accomplished that part of it,” he added. “Now I just want to compete very well and let the chips fall where they may. We will obviously be playing a good team in the championship game.”

St. C. pays a visit to Barnesville today in a regular season contest.

“I have always had a soft spot for pitching but the hits were nice, too,” Hoffman said when asked what was more satisfying, his pitching performance or his hitting. “I am getting stronger and my elbow feels fine. I think this was my best outing of the year.”

Hoffman received the only run he would need in the first inning.

Blomquist, headed to Wright State this fall, opened the home-half of the first with a double to right. He scored on Hoffman’s double to left center.

St. C. opened unnecessary breathing room by plating four runs in the third.

Blomquist was beaned before Hoffman delivered a one-out single. Mason Myers singled in Blomquist followed by an RBI single from Brody Saunders. Colten Florence capped the frame with a single, knocking in two more Devils for a 5-0 reading.

The hosts added two more tallies in the fourth.

With two outs, Blomquist was beaned again. Standout catcher Marcus Bush tripled him in. Bush subsequently scored on a Hoffman double which nearly cleared the right-center fence.

St. C. put the finishing touches on its stellar effort with three runs in the fifth to enact the OHSAA mercy rule.

Caleb Keenan walked and Rowan Mellott followed with a single. Balgo doubled in Keenan before Jacob singled in Mellott. Bush delivered the game-ender with an RBI single.

Hoffman and Balgo led the Red Devils’ hitting onslaught with three safeties each. Bush and Jacob each had a pair of hits.

Jake Smith took the mound loss for the Potters. He struck out three and walked two. Smith (double) and Malachi Reed (Single) had the lone EL hits.

St. C. has pocketed two wins over Indian Creek this season.