Margaretta strikes late to beat Huron, stay alive in SBC Bay

CASTALIA — Margaretta's baseball team is still alive in the SBC Bay Division. The Polar Bears scratched together three late runs and got a strong pitching performance from starter Ben Palomo in a 3-2 win over Huron on Tuesday at Lions Park. The Polar Bears improved to 16-3 overall and 5-2 in the Bay and must defeat Oak Harbor on Wednesday to set up a showdown against first-place Edison on Thursday. Then there's another game against Oak Harbor on Saturday. That certainly will challenge the Bears' pitching depth, but for now they're in contention. "A big win for us," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "We got beat by these guys the first time and we got it handed to us the other day by Edison. "For our guys to bounce back against a really good pitcher with our backs to the wall, we came in with four conference games left and we need to win all four." Huron starter Joey Schade allowed no runs and just one hit through the first four innings, but the big left-hander was undone by four Tiger errors. The loss eliminated the Tigers (12-9, 6-3) from Bay contention. The big blow came in the bottom of the sixth. Reese Keegan was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Ben Millis then pushed a bunt past the pitcher's mound and reached on a hit. After a sacrifice bunt, Neill called on pinch-hitter Sean Reardon. Reardon smoked a hard ground ball to third baseman Cody Mamere, whose throw to first was wide and allowed Keegan and Millis to score and give the Bears a 3-2 lead. "I went up there with the mentality like the batting cages, first strike you see down the middle, swing at it," said Reardon. "It was as simple as that. "I didn't realize that we scored two; I thought it was still tied. I looked back and it was 3-2 and thought that was pretty cool." Schade allowed just three hits and three unearned runs. Margaretta's Palomo settled down after throwing 21 pitches in the first inning and 28 in the third. He allowed only four hits and no earned runs. Huron had three loud outs in the seventh, including Mamere's two-out shot to center field that Jordan Luzader snagged at his shoe tops. "The last inning we had three balls we hit on the screws pretty good, but right at people," Huron coach Dan Lindsley said. "That's the game of baseball." Huron struck first with two runs in the third. Adam Murray reached on the Bears' only error. Mamere's hard-hit grounder skipped over shortstop Cole Biehl's glove for an RBI single. With two out, Schade hit a ground ball through the left side to score Mamere. Huron held a 2-0 lead until the fifth. Margaretta leadoff hitter Biehl reached on an infield single and scored on a throwing error. Palomo finished with five strikeouts and five walks and allowed only four hits. "He righted himself and gained some confidence," Neill said. "He threw all three pitches tonight, mixed in the curveball and the change with his fastball and located a little bit." Huron's Tommy Ray (two singles) was the only player with multiple hits. He was thrown out hustling to second, trying to stretch a second-inning single into a double. "Both pitchers were pretty good," Neill said. "We put the ball in play when we needed to in the sixth. We got two bunts down in that inning." Huron had only one baserunner in the last three innings. "That's a well-coached team.," Lindsley said of the Margaretta team the Tigers hammered 16-3 a couple weeks ago. "I told the boys they played better baseball than we did. We had opportunities early to cash in a few more and we got a little sloppy at the end." Huron 002 000 0 — 2 4 4Margaretta 000 012 x — 3 3 1 WP: Ben Palomo. LP: Joey Schade