ONTARIO — Noah Creed’s third career start was his best yet.
A senior left-hander, Creed surrendered just one hit and Ontario scored four unearned runs in the first inning en route to a 6-2 Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference win over Clear Fork on a blustery Tuesday afternoon at Ontario.
Creed struck out three and walked two in the complete game victory. The crafty lefty allowed only a sixth-inning single.
“Coach (Jeff) Fisher says (let them) put it in play and our defense will make plays,” Creed said. “Our outfield is good and our infield is good — no weak spots, I don’t think.”
The Warriors (9-7, 6-3) gave Creed all the support he would need in the first. Ontario plated four runs, all with two out and all after the inning was extended by a pair of Clear Fork errors.
“That’s an inning where (Ontario) ended up getting four runs when we could have been out of that inning on possibly 10 pitches,” Clear Fork coach Joe Staab said. “We’ve just got to do a better job of taking care of the baseball. You can’t make mistakes against good teams and expect to get away with it.”
Griffin Shaver drove in Ontario’s first run with a single that struck the pitching rubber and bounded high into the air. By the time Clear Fork pitcher A.J. Blubaugh fielded the ball, Andrew Cacchio scored from third. Sam Sayre followed with a wind-aided, three-run single to right.
“Getting (Blubaugh’s) pitch count up was big,” Ontario coach Jeff Fisher said. “We came away with four, but even if we didn’t score I thought it was a good inning.
“It’s important to score first and go from there.”
The cushion allowed Creed to settle down and find his rhythm. He retired the side in order in the second, third and fourth innings.
“It’s a lot less stressful,” Creed said.
Ontario extended its lead to 6-0 in the home half of the fifth. Shaver drove in a run with a groundout and Caden Armstrong scored on a straight steal of home.
Clear Fork (10-4, 6-3) finally got to Creed in the sixth. Brandon Patterson walked, moved to second on Blubaugh’s single and scored on an error. Blubaugh would eventually score on a sacrifice fly by Dylan Jewell.
Blubaugh was the hard-luck loser. The senior right-hander gave up two earned runs on seven hits.
“A.J. did really well on the mound. We just had some miscues on defense and then offensively we didn’t break a no-hitter until the sixth inning,” Staab said. “Credit to their pitcher for pitching to contact. I just don’t think we had the right approach at the plate today.”
The teams will meet again Wednesday at Clear Fork.
