Toronto 10, East Liverpool 0

By ANDREW GRIMM

Special to The Review

TORONTO — Monday evening was more than just an early regular season game for the Toronto baseball team and head coach Brian Perkins.

Taking on East Liverpool at home at the Knights Baseball Complex, the Red Knights prevailed with a 10-0 victory.

Bigger than the win added to their column, though, they raised awareness and money for a good cause in the process.

It was Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Day at the KBC. In a partnership with WVU Medicine, the team wore special orange hats on the field and T-shirts were sold to raise money for MS research and awareness.

Toronto coach Brian Perkins’ brother, Don, was diagnosed with the disease in 2019. He is a graduate of East Liverpool. March is also MS Awareness Month.

“This was a special one,” Perkins said. “We’re happy to be able to bring awareness to multiple sclerosis. It’s a disease that has impacted many families. We’re glad to bring awareness to it. We had a nice turnout, hopefully we were able to raise some money for a good cause.”

Once the action started, the Knights did not have perhaps their sharpest day hitting, but managed to turn four hits into 10 runs, taking full advantage of any opportunity they had with guys on base.

Their biggest hit of the game came in the fourth inning, a two-out bases-clearing double from Heath Thomas that took the score from 6-0 to 9-0.

“By far it wasn’t one of our best days hitting; they were keeping us off balance,” Perkins said. “But, when we got on base, we ran the bases really well and found ways to create opportunities. We found ways to get guys in; we found ways to score. Heath had a really big hit. That’s baseball, you’ll have days where you struggle to hit a little bit but you get back at it the next day.”

After Tanner Newbold knocked an RBI single that made it 10-0 and brought the run rule into play, Thomas came on the mound and fired a 1-2-3 top of the fifth with a pair of punch outs to bring things to an early end.

Sophomore Jacob Parissi tossed the first four scoreless innings for the win on the mound, striking out two and walking four while holding the Potters to two singles.

“Both pitchers did a nice job,” Perkins said. “Jacob is just a sophomore and he threw well; he threw his pitches. We’ve got to get him to stay in the zone a little bit more, but he did a good job. Heath came in and closed things out. I don’t think he even threw 10 pitches.

“We told the guys we wanted to see some clutch gene and they came through with a big inning to get the 10-run rule. In a busy week, that’s important to do that when you have a chance to save some pitching. By getting the 10-run rule and the two guys we threw throwing well, we didn’t have to use a lot of pitching.”

Toronto jumped ahead early when Chase Heckathorn drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the first, then another run crossed on a balk before the Potters (0-2) could get the third out.

An inning later, Drake Bouscher had an RBI knock to make it 3-0 and later scored on a wild pitch for a 4-0 lead.

That remained the score until the fourth when the Knights plated six runs, all of which came after a pair of East Liverpool errors. “We’re a young team,” East Liverpool coach Dan Suznevich said. “We have to learn how to win and that’s something this program hasn’t done in a while, so it’s tough. We have one bad thing happen and kind of get our heads down, we have to learn how to play through that and keep going. We start a lot of young guys so we’ll get there.

“We are kind of getting baptism by far starting with Edison twice and the No. 2 team in the state (Toronto).”

East Liverpool (0-2) hosts Edison today.

EL: 0-0-0-0-0– 0-2-3

TO: 2-2-0-6-x–10-4-0

Edison 6, Beaver Local 0

RICHMOND — Brady Haught struck out seven and walked two in five innings as Edison blanked Beaver Local 6-0 on Monday. Britton Hickman had two hits for the Beavers.

Braxton Hickman was the losing pitcher with three strikeouts and three walks in five innings.

BL: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0–0-5-1

ED: 0-0-0-0-3-3-x–6-3-1

Southern 4, Leetonia 2

LEETONIA — Mason Pitts had two hits and two RBIs to guide Southern to a 4-2 win over Leetonia on Monday.

He also was the winning pitcher with seven strikeouts and two walks over six innings.

Jason King had a double for the Bears and was the losing pitcher with nine strikeouts and seven walks over six innings.

Southern (1-1) will host Leetonia on Wednesday.

Leetonia 0-1) will be at Southern on Wednesday.

S: 1-1-1-1-0-0 — 4-4-1

L: 0-0-0-0-0-2 — 2-4-2

Lisbon 22, Wellsville 0

LISBON — Brady Carpenter threw a no-hitter with 11 strikeouts and two walks over four innings as Lisbon blanked Wellsville 22-0 in four innings on Monday.

Ashton Hinchliffe had three hits and two RBIs for the Devils. Carpenter had two hits and two RBIs. Marc Moore had two hits and three RBIs. Devin Kelly had a double and Aiden Myers had two hits and two RBIs.

Austin Watkins took the loss with five walks and three strikeouts in two innings.

W: 0-0- 0-0– 0- 0-9

L: 2-1-19-0–22-13-2