Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry second baseman Christian Shutler relays the ball to first after forcing out St. Clairsville’s Niko Jacob during the second inning of Monday’s baseball game high atop the Purple City. The Red Devils prevailed, 6-2.

MARTINS FERRY – St. Clairsville stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to win a mutual high school baseball season-opener over homesteading Martins Ferry, 6-2, Monday afternoon.

“That’s a good baseball team over there,” veteran St. Clairsville head coach Tom Sliva said while gesturing to the Martins Ferry dugout. “We were fortunate today, but you always want to start out 1-0.”

Eli Smith’s two-out double to deep right in the bottom of the third inning scored Hunter Shutler and Smith raced home on a throwing error after taking third on a wild pitch. However, that would be all the fireworks for the Purple Riders against a pair of Red Devils sophomores.

Hudson Florence started and went one batter into the fifth. The lefty struck out five and walked three. Righty Tyler Kosek, who earned the win, finished with five strikeouts and one free pass. They teamed on a five-hitter.

“Both guys did a really good job in their first varsity appearances,” Sliva said of his two pitchers. “They threw strikes and did a nice job of not getting behind in the count for the most part.”

St. Clairsville cut the deficit in half in the fourth when Caiden Bailey drew a leadoff walk from tough-luck loser Hunter Shutler. Bailey stole second and came around to score when Matheson King reached on a two-base error.

Bailey sliced a two-run single down the line in right in the fifth as St. Clairsville took the lead, 3-2. The hit scored pinch runner Rowan Mellott and Landon Stack.

Martins Ferry threatened in its half of the fifth when Smith singled to center to end Florence’s day on the mound. Luca Shane drew a walk to greet Kosek, but he settled down to retire the next three Purple Riders to escape unharmed.

An error, two singles, a sacrifice bunt and two wild pitches led to three St. Clairsville runs in the top of the seventh.

“The thing that we did well in the seventh was put the ball in play and make them make a play,” Sliva noted. “Things happened to work out for us today, but we’ve got to get better in our plate discipline.”

The Purple Riders had two runners on in the bottom of the seventh but, once again, couldn’t get the clutch hit.

Shutler struck out 11, walked just one and yielded half-a-dozen hits – all singles – in six-plus innings. He threw 109 pitches.

“He’s pretty good,” Martins Ferry veteran head coach Anthony Reasbeck said of his right-handed junior. “We’ve got some really good baseball players, but we’ve got to understand how to win competitive games. That’s why we play St. Clairsville and teams like them. That’s why you get to be a better baseball team by playing teams like this.

“You’ve got to be challenged. It was a good game for two hours and they made the plays and we didn’t,” he continued. “They are used to that. They’ve been in regional finals and state tournaments. We haven’t and we need to learn how to win a competitive game.”

Smith added a single to his double. Bailey singled twice for the Red Devils.

St. Clairsville hosts Barnesville on Wednesday, while Martins Ferry welcomes Bellaire on Tuesday.

St. Clairsville 6, Martins Ferry 2

St. C. 000 120 3 – 6 7 1

Ferry 002 000 0 – 2 4 3

StC-H. Florence (5K, 3BB), Kosek wp (5), (5K, 1BB) and Stack; Bailey 2S, 2rbi; Starks S, rbi; Rice rbi; Jacob rbi

F-H. Shutler lp (11K, 1BB), Kropka (7), (1K, 0BB) and Smith; Smith S, D, rbi