Photo by Kim North Members of the St. Clairsville baseball team mob Mickey Balgo after his run-scoring infield single gave the Red Devils a 2-1 victory over Indian Creek for the Buckeye 8 championship Friday night on the artificial surface at Mazeroski Field inside Sally Buffalo Park in Cadiz.

CADIZ — Sometimes in baseball it’s not how hard you hit a baseball or how far you hit it, but where you hit it.

Last Saturday, Mickey Balgo blasted a solo home run and had a two-run single to power St. Clairsville to the OVAC Class 4A baseball championship over Indian Creek. Six nights later, Balgo’s infield single Friday night with two outs in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Red Devils (15-3) over the same Redskins, 2-1, for the Buckeye 8 title on the artificial surface at Mazeroski Field inside Sally Buffalo Park.

“That was a really good baseball game by two really good baseball teams,” veteran St. Clairsville head coach Tom Sliva said. “Both pitchers battled. Both teams played hard. The fans got their money’s worth tonight.”

With a pair of Red Devils on base and two out, Indian Creek elected to intentionally walk Brody Saunders to load the bases and take its chances with Balgo. However, the strategy backfired when the St. Clairsville senior blooped a 1-1 pitch over the mound in front of the second baseman, but the throw to first was late as Balgo hustled down the line and slid across the bag head first as pinch-hitter Matheson King sprinted home with the winning run.

“Both sides played really well today,” Indian Creek (13-3) head coach Mike Cottis said after his team dropped its second game to St. Clairsville in the last six days.

Balgo’s hit touched off a wild celebration as he was chased by his teammates to shallow centerfield before being mobbed and doused with water.

The victory was St. Clairsville’s fifth in six games against Indian Creek in the last two seasons. The only loss came in the Division II Region 7 semifinals last spring. They tentatively have a pair of regular season games scheduled for next week.

“I’m very proud of everyone. It was a team effort,” Sliva added.

Both pitcher’s — St. Clairsville’s Brody Saunders and Indian Creek’s Gavin Pownall — pitched well enough to win as they combined to give up two runs and nine hits in 13 innings. Saunders, who has won four of the previous five meetings, chalked up another ‘W’ with eight strikeouts and four walks while surrendering four hits. He threw 112 pitches, of which 69 were strikes. He continually worked his way out of situations with runners on base as Indian Creek stranded nine runners, with seven of those in scoring position.

“We had a lot of traffic on the bases, but we just couldn’t get that big base hit to break it open,” Cottis lamented.

Pownall, the Redskins closer, was forced to the mound as Sylus Hyde and Sal Barcalow pitched on Wednesday and Thursday. But he wanted the ball and showed some grit with four punchouts and three base on balls. He gave up four hits and threw 91 pitches before giving way to James Brothers after he hit King with a 3-1 pitch to start the seventh. Jaxon Starks greeted Brothers with a sacrifice bunt that he legged out and Caiden Bailey advanced both runners with another perfect bunt before Saunders was walked and Balgo walked it off.

“What he did was gut it up and put the ball in play,” Sliva said of Balgo’s game-winner.

“I was 0-for-2 and got walked intentionally in my first three plate appearances,” Balgo said. “I got one more turn at bat and made the most of it. We got runners on and moved them around. I got up and made the play, but that was all because of what my teammates did before that.”

Indian Creek took a 1-0 lead in the third when Ian Starkey, the Redskins No. 9 hitter, singled leading off. He stole second and went to third when Hunter Rusnak’s grounder was thrown wildly to first. With the count 2-2 on Barcalow, Saunders uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Starkey to score the game’s first run.

The Redskins had a golden opportunity to add to their margin in the fifth when they loaded the bases with two outs on an infield single by Starkey, a hit-by-pitch and an intentional walk to Hyde. Saunders escaped without any damage by inducing an infield pop out.

Indian Creek also left two runners on in the sixth before St. Clairsville drew even.

“It was a fundamentally sound game by both teams. Jaxon (Starks) made an incredible play at short in the top of the seventh to take away a hit,” Sliva recalled.

Bailey coaxed a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Saunders sent a 2-1 pitch off the wall in deep left-center as Bailey circled the bases.

Starkey had three of Indian Creek’s five singles. Saunders added a single to his RBI double. Colten Florence also doubled.

Both teams return to action Monday when St. Clairsville travels to Dover and Indian Creek visits Martins Ferry.