Solon Falls to Mayfield in Baseball in 3-1 Pitching Battle

For those who believe pitching is the very soul of baseball, Thursday afternoon’s duel in the sun between Solon’s Matt Smoral and Mayfield’s Matt Iosue certainly filled the spirit.

Perhaps the decision to pull Smoral after five innings took away a little of the matchup’s luster and led to the three runs the Wildcats would need to win at Solon Community Center.

Nonetheless, the two put on a show and faced each other for five scoreless innings with a combined 14 strikeouts as the Wildcats defeated the Comets, 3-1, for the second time in a week. Mayfield won, 3-2, at home on April 7.

After Solon’s Pat Vogel replaced Smoral in the sixth inning, crucial defensive mistakes plagued the Comets and led to Mayfield’s only three runs. Iouse (2-0) went an additional half-inning for the win, while Smoral was left with a no decision. Vogel (1-2) took the loss.

The Wildcats improved to 2-2 overall and 2-2 in the Northeast Ohio Conference having suffered through several weather-delayed games. Solon fell to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the NOC.

Smoral, who is a 6-foot-8 left-handed power pitcher, can be an overwhelming figure on the mound, but Solon coach Damien Kopkas praised his starter’s mettle under pressure in a tight ballgame.

 “When he did get into a little trouble, walk a batter, a runner in scoring position with less than two outs, he battled, came back and got the outs he needed to get,” Kopkas said. “I’m certainly liking the desire and effort that I’m getting from Matt on the mound.”

Mayfield coach Don Ramer, who led his team to a Division I regional final last season, recalled Iouse’s crucial contribution to the Wildcats’ win last week over the Comets in relief and felt he brought some of that to the park Thursday.  

“He’s really commanding his pitches. He’s taking care of the base runners on base,” Ramer said. “(Solon’s) an aggressive base-running team.  And he got a couple of key pickoffs.”

The Comets' troubles began in the sixth inning after Smoral left the game. Third baseman Drew Stankiewicz had two errors in the frame beginning with his throw to first baseman Dan Goetz on a shot from leadoff hitter Anthony Alioto. The throw hit the dirt and skidded away from Goetz, allowing Alioto to reach second.

Alioto advanced to third on a groundout to Vogel, but the reliever hit Rob Razzante with a pitch to put runners on first and third.

Larry Pinto’s base hit scored Alioto for the game’s first run. Christian Verde followed with a double that scored Razzante, but Pinto was thrown out trying to reach third on the play.

Chuck Zavarella reached first on another Stankiewicz throwing error, while Verde advanced to third. Mitch Longo’s single scored Verde, but Vogel struck out Anthony Musarra to end the inning.

The day wasn’t a total disaster for Stankiewicz, however, as he scored the Comets' only run, albeit on an error.

In the Comets’ last at-bat in the seventh inning, Stankiewicz led off and reached first on reliever Mike Daugherty’s poor throw to first. After an out, pinch-hitter Michael Dunn walked to put Stankiewicz on second. Solon pinch-hitter Kevin Cegelka hit a ball up the third-base line that Daugherty once again threw errantly to first as Stankiewicz scored from second to prevent the shutout.

“In this conference, we’re going to play those games that are low-scoring, one-run kind of tense games,” Kopkas said. “We had a lot of good stuff happen today. We got very nice pitching only giving up three runs to a team that hits the ball like Mayfield. You expect to be in and win those games, but right now, we’re not putting it all together.”

Mayfield   0 0 0 0 0 3 0   3 5 2

Solon        0 0 0 0 0 0 1    1 5 3

Iosue (W, 2-0). Vogel (L, 1-2).