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Box Score 2 (NORTH CANTON, Ohio) – Saturday's twin bill split with Ashland was a proverbial roller coaster affair as Walsh fell in the first game 5-3 before a 14-12 victory in the second game. The Cavaliers (19-19, 10-8) also handed the Eagles (24-13, 15-3) their first loss within South Division loss.
The fireworks display in the nightcap featured 34 hits evenly split between the two teams and five home runs. Four of them belonged to Ashland, but none were bigger than Eric Conner's long ball in the eighth inning.
Down 12-11, Conner sent a pitch sailing over the trees in left center to put Walsh up 14-12. Tyson Lautanen then took to the hill and struck out two, including the final two batters, for his seventh save of the season, third-most in the GLIAC.
It capped a thrilling game that saw Walsh jump out to an 8-1 lead before Ashland rallied for 11 runs over the fifth and sixth innings.
The Cavaliers answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Austin Szink provided the first on a fielder's choice that scored Luke Caple. Conner pulled through three batters later on a single to left that scored Szink. Johnny Knight IV also scored on the play after the left fielder errored on a throw to third that found its way into the Walsh dugout.
Joey Beals picked up the first win of his career in relief. He struck out two in 2.2 innings of work.
The 14 runs, 12 RBI and 17 hits are all season highs for the Cavaliers. Eight of the nine batters that started the game recorded a hit with seven recording multiple hit games.
Conner finished with four RBI as he was 2-for-4. Andrew Stalnaker was also impressive as he pounded out four hits in five at-bats with an RBI and run scored.
In the first game, Ashland scored solo runs in the fifth and seventh to take the 5-3 win. The Eagles initially went up 3-0, but Walsh was able to tie the game with three runs in the third. Jason McPeek brought in the first run with a single through the left side to score Conner. Luke Caple followed two batters later with a two-RBI single that plated McPeek and James Thomas.
Both teams will be back at it again on Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Seniors will be honored between games.
