Margaretta's Gray delivers walk-off hit in 8th inning

CASTALIA — Margaretta was down to its last strike, but Zach Gray was confident he could deliver. Gray, the Polar Bears' leadoff batter, ripped a single into left-center field in the bottom of the eighth inning to drive in two runs and give Margaretta a 3-2 win over Edison on Monday in a tense Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division opener at Lions Park. The talented junior walked off the game on a 1-2 pitch from Edison reliever Cole Leimeister. "I was looking for my pitch. I took the first few, wanted to work the count," Gray said. "I was telling myself I was the best hitter. I'm confident. I knew he was gonna give me a pitch, I knew I was gonna hit. I was ready. I knew I was gonna get a hit." Gray's hit scored Jaxson Shearn and Robbie LaCourse with the game-ending runs. Gray, who had a bloop single in the seventh inning when the Bears tied the game at 1-1, reached base four times and threw the first five innings. The left-hander struck out six batters and gave up only one run. He had already had a good game before stepping to the plate in the eighth, when he topped off a great game. "I was looking for left-center, sit back," he said. "I was a little early my first two at-bats so I was trying to watch it in a little more and just hit it hard to left. It felt great. I barreled that one." Shearn got the rally started with a one-out walk. After a strikeout, LaCourse reached on an infield hit to bring Gray to the plate. "Zach had two big hits for us, but Robbie LaCourse's hustle infield base hit, diving head-first into first base just to get us one more batter, which happened to be Zach Gray," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "That was huge, too. "It was a pretty exciting first conference game of the season." After a wild pitch moved Shearn to third and LaCourse to second, Edison had a decision to make: put Gray on or pitch to him. "I thought they were gonna walk me," Gray said. "I wanted to hit so I was glad they didn't." Edison coach Sean Hoover said he thought about it, but thought back to the seventh inning when that strategy didn't work. The Chargers, holding a 1-0 lead, issued an intentional walk with two out to load the bases. A walk to Memphis McKenzie scored LaCourse, who had walked, tied the game at 1-1. "Earlier in the game, we walked a guy and didn't get the call on a couple close pitches," Hoover said. "That's part of the risk of doing that. Bren Smith (who was in the on-deck circle when the game ended) had a slap base hit the opposite way (in the fifth inning). "They're both good hitters at the top of the order. We got to two strikes on Zach and we were trying to get that last out. He did a nice job getting the ball in the gap and where we couldn't get to it. "It was a tough battle. Cold day, good pitchers. Hits and runs were at a premium. They got a ball down when they needed to at the end. They executed better offensively than we did." The win improved Margaretta's record to 3-2 overall while Edison fell to 3-1. All five of Margaretta's games this season have been decided by one run. "I applaud our gentlemen for playing some pretty good baseball to start the season," Neill said. "Today we had two innings (seventh, eighth) that it was over with if we didn't score and we got one to tie it and two to win it. We were down to our last strike." Mason Kromer relieved Gray and went three innings to get the win. Edison took a 1-0 lead in the sixth when leadoff batter Bryson Wittmer walked, stole second and scored on Eli Hermes' sacrifice fly. The Chargers took a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth when Leimeister reached on an error, advanced to second on a Chaz Smith infield single and scored on Hermes' shot to right field. Hermes, who started on the mound and struck out eight batters in five innings, would've been the star of the game had Edison held on late. "Eli played well," Hoover said. "He found the zone, found his rhythm and gave us five good ones. Got both RBI and did his job in the 4-hole. He had a good day." The Bears outhit the Chargers 6-4 and stranded eight runners in scoring position until Gray's clutch hit. "We had a lot of two-out chances and didn't get that done until the very last at-bat of the game," Neill said. Edison, which totaled 34 runs in its first three games, had runners on base in six of eight innings. "We bad some bunts we didn't get down to move some runners up," Hoover said. "We're not gonna score 10 runs every game. We've been in double digits every game before this. We've gotta figure out how to hit on a cold, windy day and how to execute. "This is tall, thick grass and you gotta force the other team to make plays. We didn't put enough pressure on them to make plays." Edison, which plays at Oak Harbor on Wednesday, will host Margaretta on April 23. The Chargers' next Bay Division game is next Monday at home against Huron. Margaretta is scheduled to host Tiffin Calvert on Tuesday before traveling to Port Clinton on Thursday. "I don't know how many conference championships Edison has won in a row, but when you're playing them in the first game, obviously it's a big game," Neill said. "Couldn't be happier for our guys." Edison 000 001 01 — 2 4 0 Margaretta 000 000 12 — 3 6 2 WP: Kromer. LP: Leimeister.