Photo by Kim North St. Clairsville’s Caiden Bailey slides safely into third base Wednesday against Ridgewood during the bottom of the first inning of their Ohio Division V, Region 19 semi final tournament game at Mazeroski Field in Cadiz. Bailey led off the inning with a triple, also singled twice, scored two runs and knocked in one as the Red Devils won, 8-1.

CADIZ — As a head coach, you want your team to be playing its best when it counts at tournament time. Veteran St. Clairsville baseball coach Tom Sliva was pleased with what he saw Wednesday, but he, and his team, are far from satisfied.

The battle-tested Red Devils (21-7) advanced to the Ohio Division V, Region 19 championship game with a methodical, 8-1, triumph over Ridgewood (16-15) on the artificial surface at Harrison Central’s Mazeroski Field inside Sally Buffalo Park.

Senior Brody Saunders once again did his job on the mound; Caiden Bailey and Colten Florence each collected a trio of base hits; and the Red Devils played flawless defense.

“Last year we graduated five really good dudes. We played a good team (Indian Creek) in the regional semifinals and things didn’t go our way, but to be back again with this group, the kids are extremely happy and proud of it. They have worked really hard for this, but we’re not satisfied.

“We’ve got a guy (Roby Hanna) pitching today that we’ve got a ton of confidence in,” Sliva said of Thursday’s Region 19 final with Lynchburg-Clay (22-3). “We’re going down there (to Marietta College) to see if we can’t get to the Final Four.”

Saunders hit the Generals’ Jace McQueen with the third pitch of the game, but after a strikeout, McQueen was hit by a ball off the bat of Wyatt Marlatt as he headed to second for out number two. A flyball to right ended the inning.

Caiden Bailey ignited a two-run bottom of the first when he sent a 3-1 offering from Connor Croy to the gap in left-center for a leadoff triple. He would race home on Roby Hanna’s infield single up the middle. With one out, Mickey Balgo singled and Florence lined a run-scoring base hit through the right side as Hanna scored for a 2-0 lead.

“We were hoping we could jump ahead of them early and we knew we’d be in the game with Brody on the mound,” Sliva said. “We really worked on hitting the last couple of days and I think it showed today.”

Saunders said the early run support allowed him to settle down and pitch his game.

“It’s amazing to see my offense doing some work. We had some huge at-bats and everybody put the bat on the ball,” he said. “You can’t ask for much more as a pitcher.

“This is something we’ve targeted since Day 1,” Saunders said of playing for a trip to the state tournament. “We just don’t want an alright run. We want to go all the way.”

Saunders, an Ashland University recruit, dominated from the start. After the brief hiccup in the first, the righthander settled into a groove, retiring 16 of the next 18 Generals that came to the plate. He walked McQueen in the third before yielding an opposite-field single to left by Jackson Cabot with two outs in the sixth.

Saunders threw 112 pitches – 73 strikes – in going the distance. He was touched up for three hits and lost his shutout in the seventh. He finished with 12 strikeouts and the aforementioned hit batter and base-on-balls. He has now recorded 107 strikeouts.

“We’ve been working hard all season. This team has put in a lot of work and I think it is finally showing,” Saunders, who improved to 9-0 on the year and lowered his microscopic ERA to The Red Devils, banged out 11 hits, with seven of the nine spots in the order having at least one. Florence led six players with at least one run batted in. He had two. No St. Clairsville batter struck out, as well.

“We really put a lot of emphasis on hitting in the last couple of days,” Sliva noted. “That’s a result of the hard work.”

A six-run third all but sealed the deal as the margin ballooned to 8-0. Florence, Nico Jacob and Bailey all had run-producing singles and Ryan Ivey had an RBI double. Ridgewood helped out with some shoddy play in the field.

“We put the ball in play. A lot of guys got hits and I think we batted around,” Sliva added. “We hit the ball hard and forced them to make some plays, which they didn’t.”

The Generals were charged with four errors, with three of those coming in the six-run third.

As for Thursday’s foe, the Mustangs defeated Lucasville Valley, 4-3, Wednesday in the other Region 19 semifinal, which was played at the same site as today’s championship contest – Don and Sue Schaly Field on the campus of Marietta College. The first pitch will be thrown at approximately 5. Lynchburg-Clay has won five straight games and 16 of its last 17.

“We know a little about them. We have some stuff,” Sliva said. “They are big and can swing the bats. They’ve won 22 games for a reason, but we will be ready to play. Hopefully, we can jump out on them and force their hand.”

The winner will advance to the state tournament at Canal Park in Akron on June 13-14.