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Steubenville Gets Going Late To Top Monarchs

By NICK HENTHORN 5 min read

MOUNDSVILLE -- It took awhile for Steubenville to get going on Tuesday, but once their momentum started, Big Red never looked back on their way to a 7-3 road win over the John Marshall Monarchs.

John Marshall took a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning, where the score remained for the next three frames, but Steubenville scored three runs in the fifth and sixth innings, tacking on one more in the seventh while holding the Monarchs off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

"We started off rocky," Steubenville head coach Justin Banks said. "AJ [Borsch], it took him an inning to find it. He could have given up, he didn’t, and he kept battling and he got us through six, and then Cole [Bowers] came in and shut the door."

"But our hitters, they just kept after it. You know, their pitcher was throwing pretty good at the beginning, you know, and then our hitters just kept fighting, fighting, fighting, getting the pitch count up, and the hits started dropping."

Borsch struck out three and gave up three runs on three hits and two walks, earning the win on the mound. After the first two John Marshall batters reached in the bottom of the seventh, Bowers took over and retired the next three Monarchs to end the game.

In the first inning, Landon Snyder drove in two, Kain Ankrom and Mason Markonich, while Cain Martin hit a sacrifice fly to score Hayden Hughes.

Kayden Knapp started for the Monarchs and started out Tuesday smoothly before running into some trouble in the fifth. The senior pitched 4.2 innings, surrendering three runs- only one earned-- on five walks and four hits. He struck out three.

Steubenville first got on the board on a hit-and-run with Royal Mayo on first and Cole Bowers up at the plate. Bowers shot a liner to left, and with his running start, Mayo scored from first while Bowers ended up at second.

Matthew Fabbro was next up and reached on an error, a ground ball that ended up in the outfield, allowing Bowers to score and allowing Fabbro to advance to second base.

Borsch helped his own cause next, singling up the middle to score Fabbro and tie the game.

In the sixth, Cole Bowers stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. The senior sent a high fly to center which brought home a run on a sacrifice. The attempted throw to the plate from the outfield ended up in Steubenville's dugout, and another runner was advanced across the plate as the play was ruled dead.

Fabbro followed by smoking a double to the left-center fence, scoring Mayo and doubling Big Red's score for a 6-3 ledger.

Chase Beall hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to score Mason Chmielorski.

"Knapp threw well," John Marshall head coach Mark Cisar said. "We got into trouble with some walks. We didn’t make some plays. There were a couple plays where the inning should have been over if we made the plays. Couple miscues on defense, but that happens. It’s high school baseball, it’s early in the season. I’m not going to go nuts about that, there’s no reason to. But [Knapp] settled down. I mean, the first inning, he threw 41 pitches or something.

"We put some pressure on them, on the bases. But then after that, my gosh, they made some plays."

Steubenville's Bowers at third base and Fabbro at second base each speared line drives off Monarch bats Tuesday in an unlucky day for John Marshall.

"We hit some balls hard right at people," Cisar said. "And it happens. But we had a chance to get out of a couple of situations and, you know, instead of getting out of situations, we compounded the situation by not making plays. But you know, it’s high school baseball, it’s game five.

"We’re going to keep our heads up and we’re just going to keep grinding. But you know, he pitched really well after the first inning. He bared down and I think only threw about 45 pitches after that. So, you know, it’s baseball and that’s sometimes how it works out."

After Knapp handed the ball over in the fifth, John Marshall used Landyn Roberts, Mason Markonich and Jesse McDowell to get through the remaining frames.

Steubenville finished with eight hits against John Marshall's three. Bowers ended with two hits and two RBI, and Borsch had two hits and one RBI.

"Save it for the next guy, put the ball in play," Banks said about his team's offensive mindset. "We don’t want to get called out on strikes, don’t put it in the umpire’s hands. We just want to keep putting the ball in play, put pressure on the defense any way we can."

Snyder had two RBI and reached twice with a single and walk to highlight John Marshall's own day on offense.

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