Photo by Kim North Members of the St. Clairsville baseball team dogpile Saturday after their 9-4 victory over Indian Creek that allowed it to win back-to-back OVAC Class 4A championships.

RICHMOND – The old myth that beating a team three times in the same season is hard was just a myth Saturday.

Top-seeded St. Clairsville (20-2) defended its OVAC Class 4A baseball championship with a 9-4 verdict over No. 2 Indian Creek (14-6) on the synthetic surface at the wet Edison High School’s Unified Sports Complex. The entire contest was played in a steady rain.

Not only did the Red Devils go back-to-back, but they did it against the Redskins, as well.

“We played Creek here last year and, fortunately, we were able to come out on top again,” veteran St. Clairsville head coach Tom Sliva said. “They have a really good team and they didn’t make it as easy as it looked at times.

“The conditions were far from ideal,” Sliva pointed out. “They were bad for both teams. The balls were slick, as was the field. I thought both teams fought through it pretty well.”

Game MVP Brody Saunders shined both on the mound and plate. The lanky junior went the distance on the hill, striking out just four and walking only one. He scattered five hits, three going to Indian Creek’s Ty Householder. Saunders, who no-hit the Redskins earlier this season, threw 122 pitches – three shy of the limit – with 78 being strikes.

“You can’t say enough about the job he did on the mound,” Sliva praised. “The conditions weren’t good but he did a good job of adapting to them and pitching his game. I’m very proud of him, as I am with the entire team.”

Saunders also keyed a six-run bottom of the third with a bases-clearing double to the gap in left-center that gave the Red Devils a 6-1 lead after Householder tripled in Caleb Bodo with two outs in the top of the inning.

“That was obviously the biggest hit of the game,” Sliva said.

Saunders said he wasn’t really looking for a certain pitch.

“I was just looking for something middle in, trying to get on base,” he explained. “I got the pitch I wanted and took it to left-center.”

Wright State University signee Braylen Blomquist ignited the St. Clairsville outburst with a leadoff single. He went to third when a fly ball to right by Marcus Bush was misplayed. Hunter Hoffman walked to load the bases and left-handed-hitting Mason Myers flared a single to left that tied the game at 1. Saunders then lined a 3-1 pitch to the fence for a 4-1 advantage. Caleb Keenan drilled a ground-rule RBI double that bounced over the fence down the left field line, making it 5-1. With two outs, No. 9 hitter Niko Jacob ripped a single up the middle that plated Keenan, who had advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Mikey Balgo.

The Redskins cut into the deficit with a pair of runs in the fifth as Householder singled in one and the other crossed on a throwing error. However, the Red Devils answered back with two of their own in the bottom when Bush singled to center with two outs that scored Jacob and Blomquist, bumping the count to 8-3.

After Indian Creek made it 8-4 in the sixth, St. Clairsville got that run back, as well.

“I think the big key to the game was that we kept adding runs after they would score,” Sliva noted.

Saunders was also involved in a pair of defensive gems. In the first inning after yielding a leadoff single to Householder, he caught an attempted sacrifice bunt for an out and then flipped to Hoffman at first for an inning-changing double play. He then whirled and picked a runner off second to end the sixth.

Landon Pownall had a double for Indian Creek. Hunter Rusnak an infield single.

“The bottom line is we gave them two many extra outs with a couple of miscues in the field and too many free passes,” indian Creek head coach Mike Cottis said. “You can’t do that against a good team like St. Clairsville.

Myers, playing in just his fourth game after recovering from a broken wrist, had two singles, one a perfect bunt that loaded the bases in the first with one out, but Indian Creek starter Sylus Hyde worked his way out of trouble with a pair of strikeouts. He struck out four and walked three before being chased in the third by Saunders’ blast. Reliever Sy Barcalow fanned a pair but issued four free passes and hit back-to-back batters in the sixth.

“I feel very happy for my seniors to be able to cap their careers like this,” Sliva said. “Most of them have been four-year players for us and they have put in a lot of time and hard work. They deserve it, but they also know we’ve got a lot of baseball to play yet.”

St. Clairsville hosts Barnesville on Monday for Senior Night before traveling to Steubenville Tuesday in a game that will be televised live by WTOV 9.