Lakewood, OH- For the first time in a long while, Lakewood baseball has beaten their cross-town rivals St Edward’s by a final score of 4-2. This win comes after years of close matchups that always favored the Eagles.
St Ed’s had a solid start to the ballgame. After Luca Reyes grounded out, Langston Lucas and Robert Anderson drew walks. With two on and one down, Grant Lashutka flew out to center field. This would be the first of many putouts recorded by Lakewood’s Luke Legato in the outfield. With two down, the Eagles tried getting creative. As the Rangers’ starting pitcher–Leo Soneson– came set, they attempted to take third. However, Lakewood’s defense called it out in time for Soneson to get Lucas trying to take third.
In the bottom of the first, the Rangers would score the first two runs of the game. After a leadoff walk from Cooper Russell, Legato smoked a ball over Karlo Hepp in left field. This resulted in an RBI double. Next, Drew Jones was able to score Legato on a sacrifice fly. The twist on this play was that Jones was a former Eagle. In fact, he transferred to Lakewood after last season. Soneson followed this up with a one-out single. However, Nick Hart would ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning with the Rangers up 2-0.
St Edward’s came out in the second ready to respond. After a long battle, Hepp was able to single up the gut. Soneson regathered himself by striking out the Eagles’ catcher, Jack Laux. Hunter Mayville was able to score Hepp from second on the following at-bat as he singled down the right field line. Brady Page would walk following a Cam Fuehrer groundout, putting two runners on base again for St Ed’s. Just like last inning, the Lakewood defense worked out of the game, forcing Reyes to ground out to Riley Verderber at first. This kept the score at 2-1 in favor of the Rangers.
In the home half of the second, St Edward’s starting pitcher Peyton Beck was able to hold down the fort, retiring Lakewood in order. This set the stage for the Eagles to take control of the game at the top of the third. However, no damage was done outside of a leadoff single from Lucas and a walk from Lashutka. This was helped in large part by Logan Ellis throwing out a runner stealing second. Defensively, Beck got the same result in the home half of the third as he did in the prior frame. Through three innings, Lakewood was hanging on up 2-1.
The top of the fourth inning saw St Edward’s first two batters retired. Still, the Eagles fought to put two runners on as Fuehrer singled and Page walked. Peter Checkett ended the frame with a ranging putout in right center. This would signal the end of Soneson’s day on the mound. After suffering an injury a while back, this was going to be a ‘rehab’ start of sorts for the Mount Union commit. Either way, he proved he still has it after a historic 2024 campaign, which saw him set the Lakewood record for lowest ERA (0.808) in a single season.
The bottom of the fourth inning saw the Rangers ground into their second double play of the night. This time, it was a 4-6-3 double play that retired Jones and Soneson. Hart would single with two down, but Verderber’s groundout to Lucas at first ended the inning. With three innings left to play, Lakewood still led 2-1.
Jones came onto the mound for the fifth inning after starting at third for the Rangers. In turn, Soneson moved to first base while Verderber went from first to third. Lucas opened the inning with a single. Anderson and Lashutka followed the hit up with a flyout and ground out, respectively. Still, St Edward’s didn’t go down without a fight. After Jones walked the next two batters, the bases were loaded for Mayville. He gave the ball a good ride into center field, but Legato was there to save the day for Lakewood.
The Rangers had to find a way to respond in the home half of the fifth. Ellis walked to get the frame going, but he was thrown out attempting to steal second by Laux. With a popout from Long and a strikeout from Checkett, the inning was over.
At long last, St Edward’s would tie the game up in the top of the sixth. Fuehrer walk was followed by a Page strikeout. With one down, Reyes stepped into the batter’s box and roped the ball deep to right center field. This double resulted in Fuehrer scoring. This made the score 2-2, the first tie since the bottom of the first. However, the following two batters were retired.
With the top of their order set to hit, it was now or never for Lakewood. Russell began the frame with a leadoff single. Legato followed this up with a walk. The stage was now set. Jones, the former Eagle, had two runners on with no outs. Then, it happened. Jones found his storybook play, an RBI double. With the score now 3-2, the Rangers wanted more. After Soneson struck out, Nick Hart hit an RBI double of his own, which scored Jones. Verderber would be struck out by Brandon Florjancic–who came on to pitch a few batters prior–thus ending the inning. In his short outing, Florjancic would record two punchouts.
Jones remained on the mound for Lakewood in the top of the seventh. After striking out Lashutka and forcing Hepp to ground out, history was one out away. Laux stood in the way of Jones’ fairytale ending as he put a ball in play. However, Brady Long was able to scoop up the grounder and hit Soneson at first. As this play was made, celebrations from the Lakewood faithful became louder than ever. This play sealed a historic 4-2 victory for the Rangers.
Lakewood now sits at 10-4 on the year with big clashes against Bay and Rocky River on the docket this coming week. As for St Edward’s, they fall to 7-9 with Walsh on deck today at the PBR Ohio High School Classic. This game truly was an instant classic. A tight battle throughout between cross-town rivals. In the end, Jones’ return was something straight out of a movie as he changed the Rangers’ fate. Lakewood, for this season at least, is back to being Purple and Yellow.
CrossFit Strongsville Player of the Game: Drew Jones
Watch the Full Game Here: https://www.youtube.com/live/rjmo7g4QPCA?si=uDuOVBhmubQ51X2g
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