Photo by Andrew Grimm Harrison Central third base coach AJ Barsch congratulates Kayden Dunkle after Dunkle hit a three-run homer in Friday’s 12-2 victory over Toronto at Mazeroski Field.

CADIZ — With the seedings and matchups for next week’s Ohio baseball tournament already set, one may think late regular season games don’t mean all the much in the grand scheme of a long season.

They sure mean something to Harrison Central.

The Huskies, who were celebrating their seniors by welcoming perennial small school power Toronto to Mazeroski Field in the regular season finale for both teams, earned their second win over a state-ranked opponent in as many nights and did so in impressive fashion, 12-2, in five innings.

“We have a ton of respect for Toronto and coach Perkins and what he has built,” Huskies head coach Mike Valesko said. “We know who we’re playing, that’s a win that means something for sure. I think there are a handful of teams in the Valley that, if you beat, it means something, and they’re one of them. We want to play those teams; we want to compete with teams like that.

“This is a big win for us.”

The match up was the second of the week between the Huskies (ranked No. 17 in Division V by the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association) and Red Knights (No. 3 in Division VI by the OHSBCA), Toronto taking the first on its home field Tuesday 5-2.

In between, Thursday night the Huskies edged out a 6-5 win over rival St. Clairsville, the No. 11 ranked team in Div. V.

“We played them in a really good game the other night and since then I think we’ve had some really good at bats, we had some good at bats (Thursday) and again (Friday), so I think we’re seeing the ball really well right now,” Valesko said.

After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first on Friday, the Huskies (17-8) came out swinging in the bottom half and took full advantage of some uncharacteristic mistakes from the Knights (21-5), plating seven runs.

After tacking on two more an inning later, Kayden Dunkle’s fourth inning three-run homer over the wall in left center brought the run rule into play.

Dunkle also hit an RBI single in the big first inning and had a two-out, two-run double in the second inning to finish a triple shy of the cycle with six RBIs on the day.

Colton Rutter had a two-run knock in the big first inning, while Kolton Mizer and Hunter Snyder also had an RBI each.

“They made some mistakes that they typically don’t make and credit to our guys for finding a way to capitalize in those moments,” Valesko said. “They came out, scored two and that’s a moment where you can start looking around a little bit, knowing who is in the other dugout, but our guys stayed calm and stayed focused.

“I think we’re growing and maturing. We have four seniors that have played in a lot of really big games and they have done a great job of bringing the young guys along.”

After the Knights struck first, Huskies pitcher Gage Stoneking settled in and put up four straight zeroes, stranding runners in scoring position in the fourth and fifth to seal an early ending. He struck out five and walked three.

“That first inning, I think he struggled a little bit with his off-speed stuff, then he really threw well after that, he calmed it down and did a great job after he settled in,” Valesko said.

As much as the Huskies hope the momentum from a big win carries into next week, the Knights, who got a first inning RBI double from Drake Bouscher but then went quiet, will look to flush it and get dialed back in to attempt to extend their state-record sectional winning streak.

“We came out and had a good first inning, had good at bats and then man, did it go downhill from there,” Toronto head coach Brian Perkins said. “We just had a really bad day at the park. Like I told the kids, it’s one game and we’re gonna move on to the next one and be ready to go for the tournament.

“Anytime we play coach Valesko’s team, you know it’s going to be a challenge. They’re a good team, we just didn’t play very well.

“I told them we’re going to walk out of here and put this one behind us, have a really good practice (Saturday) and be ready to go on Wednesday.”

UP NEXT

Toronto: Will look to make it 30 sectional round victories in a row when they host the winner of No. 6 seed Buckeye Trail and No. 9 seed Bellaire, who meet Monday, on Wednesday night at the Knights Baseball Complex. Toronto is the No. 2 seed in the Division VI, East District bracket.

Harrison Central: The Huskies, who are the No. 2 seed in the Division V, East 2 bracket, will wait a little longer to open their tournament run as they will not play again until May 27 when they host the winner of No. 3 Edison and No. 14 Morgan, who play an opening round game on Monday.

“We talk about the postseason from Day 1, we don’t shy away from it,” Valesko said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to have some success in the post season the last 10 or so years and we’re really excited for the moment. We have it on the wall in the dugout (a sign that says the “The Road to Akron Starts Here”), we want to get back there, that’s the goal is to find a way.”