Warren's JT Blum (left) and Micah Passmore try to field a ball that's hit Harbor Creek's Casey Smith as he slides into second during their District 10 Class 4A semifinal at UPMC Park, Monday, May 31, 2021. Harbor Creek won, 11-1, in five innings. Photo courtesy Jon Sitler.

‘Just Wasn’t Our Day’: Warren Falls to Harbor Creek in D10 Semis

June 1, 2021

ERIE — Warren’s baseball team got exactly what it wanted when its District 10 Class 4A semifinal game against Harbor Creek was postponed from Friday to Monday.

The delay gave the Dragons the opportunity to put their ace, senior Ben Berdine, on the mound against a tough opponent. Unfortunately for Warren, Harbor Creek put together a pretty good game plan of its own.

Harbor Creek struck for six runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to an 11-1, 5 inning win over Warren in their District 10 Class 4A semifinal.

“We got to where we wanted; it just wasn’t our day,” Warren coach Rick Eaton said. “Baseball — you could go out tomorrow and the game could be 2-1. We didn’t hit, and I thought (Ben) threw pretty well . . . it just wasn’t our day, but we gave it an effort.”

The Huskies had four hits and three walks in the inning. They tacked on another run in the second and scored four more in the fourth to seal the win.

“Twenty-four foul balls they hit off Ben,” Eaton said. “He threw 70 pitches in the first inning.”

Austin Vaughn and Cam Williamson hit consecutive singles to start the game, then Smith ripped a double into right to bring in both runners and put Harbor Creek up 2-0. One out later, Casey Smith reached on an error and Mike Pepicello and Gio Barbato walked to bring in another run. With two outs, Caleb Herman walked to plate another run and Vaughn singled for the second time in the inning to make it 6-0.

“It was a little tighter zone than what I thought we would see,” Eaton said. “The inning escalated and it made it 6-0 and you’re down.”

Aiden Kelly singled and scored on a wild pitch in the second.

After a scoreless third, the Huskies got on the board again in the fourth. Pepicello hit a 1-out single,
then Barbato reached on an error. K Moon, who came in as a courtesy runner, scored on the play. Three straight walks brought in another run and Williamson hit a sac fly to center to score a third. Cody Smith singled to bring in the fourth run of the inning and make it 11-0.

Cody Smith was stellar on the mound. He allowed just one unearned run on one hit with three walks and nine strikeouts in five innings.

“That’s a good team we just beat,” Smith said. “(Scoring early) really gives us a lot of confidence.”

Smith also had two hits, scored a run and drove in three.

Warren got a run across in the fifth. With two outs and K Hoffman on base as a courtesy runner, James Swanson reached on an error. Hoffman was able to score on the play to make it 11-1. Cody Smith got Micah Passmore to ground out when Passmore tried to check his swing but put the ball in play, to end the game.

*Jon Sitler contributed to this report

         

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