Seniors to Participate in Post-Season Events

This Saturday the Greater Cleveland Baseball Coaches Association will host their 52nd Annual All-Star Game. Players from across the greater Cleveland area will play two games at Eastlake North High School. Representing the Bengals will be Ryan Kovar, Joe Bova and John Hromulak. All three will play in the 10am game.

On June 2 Ryan Kovar will participate in the Lake County News Herald Home Run Derby. The contest is being held on various dates, all at the Lake County Captains Stadium in Eastlake.  Ryan will hit after the Captains game; with the purchase of a game ticket you are invited to stay and cheer Ryan on. Coach Woody Smith will be his pitcher.

On June 21st the Northeast Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association will host their annual All-Star Game and Hall of Fame induction at Progressive Field. Taylor Branisel was nominated and chosen to play in the game.

Baseball Awards Luncheon Set

The Baseball Program will host its annual Awards Luncheon on Wednesday May 26th at 3:30pm in the school cafeteria. All players and their families are invited to attend. The booster club will provide pizza, salad and pasta along with beverages. Families of the JV & Freshman teams are asked to bring their favorite side dish. Varsity Families are asked to bring dessert.

Bengals Fall in District Game to Cougars

It took a few extra days to play and a very long bus ride to Jefferson before the Bengals were defeated by Lake Catholic by a 4-1 score. John Hromulak pitched a solid game striking out seven batters along the way. Jake Marinelli had two hits, Ryan Kovar had an RBI single and Taylor Branisel added a hit and scored a run. The team finished the season with a 17-11 record.

District Game Set ... Thursday 4:30.

The District Baseball game vs Lake Catholic will be played on Thursday May 20th at the Jefferson Little League Complex (4:30). For those attending the game there may be an admission charge of $6 per person.

Winner of the game will return to Jefferson on Friday. Opponent and game time TBA.

Directions to Jefferson Little League Complex

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1250 N. Market St., Jefferson, OH  44047

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Matt Thomas ‘09

Matt Thomas ‘09, is currently attending Div I Canisius College in Buffalo, NY.  The Griffs are 35-18 and 17-4 in conference play.

As a Bengal Matt was the recipient of the Nobby Lewandowski Pitcher Award in 2008 and 2009 as well as named Mr. Baseball in 2009.  We wish Matt continued success in the future.

District Game on Hold ... JV Team Finishes 17-4 !

The Varsity Baseball Team is still in a holding pattern and waiting to see when the District Game will be played. Per OHSAA rule the Sectional Tournament must be complete before the District Games can be played. We are waiting for University School/West Geauga to play their game. That game was scheduled for Tuesday but canceled due to the weather. The game has been re-scheduled for Wednesday.

The Bengals game vs Lake Catholic is scheduled for Wednesday but that will probably change. Please watch for updated information and call the Bengal Athletic Hotline daily.

Congrats to the JV Baseball Team, Coach Ryzner and Coach Woody. They completed a very successful season this past weekend and finished with a 17-4 record. Great job!

Bengals Hit Their Way to the Districts

The Bengals defeated Cleveland John Hay 19-0 in the Sectional Final to advance to this weeks game vs Lake Catholic in the District opener.  The team scored the 19 runs on 18 hits.  John Hromulak, Jake Marinelli, Ryan Kovar, Tim Szalay, Justin Bonchek and Joe Fisher each had two hits.  Marinelli and Kovar added three RBI and Szalay scored three times.

Hromulak pitched three scoreless innings for the win, striking out five and giving up two hits.  Jordan Durham and Taylor Branisel each pitched an inning of scoreless baseball.

The game vs Lake Catholic is scheduled for Tuesday at 4:30pm at the Jefferson Little League Complex.

Sectional Final Re-Scheduled for Saturday

The Sectional Final vs John Hay will be played on Saturday May 15th @ 4:30.  We will play the game at Hawken High School.  Our JV team will also play a 2pm game tomorrow at Hawken.

Today's Freshman game vs Medina along w/the origianlly scheduled Varsity & JV games tomorrow vs Firelands have all been canceled.

Sectional Final vs John Hay

The Bengals will face John Hay for the DII Sectional Baseball Final.  The game is scheduled for today at 4:30pm.  However, due to the amount of rain that fell last night and this morning the game is questionable at best.  If the game is canceled on Friday it will be moved to Saturday at a site and time to be determined.  The winner of the game will advance to the Jefferson District and play on Tuesday vs Mentor Lake Catholic.  The District game would be played at the Jeffereson Little Complex at 4:30pm.  The Bengals (16-10) advanced to the Sectional Final with a forfeit win over Cleveland South.  The Flyers were unable to field a team for yesterday's game.
Please call the athletic hotline (216-421-2080 ext 705} for schedule updates.  Please DO NOT CALL the schools main office number for baseball updates.

Bengals Start Tournament Week at 15-10 ... Will it Ever Stop Raining?

St. Thomas Aquinas visited Nobby's Ballpark this past Monday.  The Bengals came away with a 8-5 victory and improved their record to 15-10 on the season. Junior Zach Walker led the way with four innings of relief pitching for his third win of the season.  Walker also added three hits, scored two runs and had one RBI.  Senior Taylor Branisel stayed hot by adding four hits and three RBI.  Junior's Jordan Durham and Joe Fisher each added two hits.

The DII Sectional Game was canceled yesterday due to rain and wet field conditions.  The game has been re-scheduled for today at 4:30.  Per OHSAA rule the tournament games will be re-scheduled daily until played. For updates, please call the athletic hotline daily after 2:30pm (216-421-2080 ext. 705 ).

Cancellations for Saturday May 8

JV and Varsity games are cancelled for Saturday May 8th due to field conditions.

Freshman game is still on for today.

Bengals Hold On to Defeat Rebels

The Bengals traveled to Willoughby South yesterday and held on for a 6-5 victory over the Rebels.  Senior John Hromulak pitched five innings for the win and added three hits at the plate.  Hromulak is {3-2} on the season and hitting {.397}.  Senior Taylor Branisel pitched the final two innings and recorded his second save of the season.  Branisel hitting {.383} also blasted his second  home run early in the game.  Junior Jake Marinelli added three hits as he continues to lead the Bengals at the plate with a {.415} average.  Sophomore Justin Bonchek had two hits and 2 RBI.  Senior Ryan Kovar and junior Tim Szalay each added sacrifice fly's to drive in runs.

The JV Bengals had only their third loss of the year yesterday dropping a 5-3 decision to the Rebels.  The JV record stands at 15-3.

This afternoon the Bengals {14-9} travel to the Northern Ohio Baseball Complex in Strongsville for 5pm game vs St. Ed's.  On Saturday all three levels will play Shaker Hts.  The Varsity team will play a single game at Nobby's Ballpark, the JV team will play a {DH} at Luke Easter Park and the Freshman at Mercer Elementary.  All games will begin at 11am.  Be sure to call the athletic hotline {216} 421- 2080 ext 705 for last minute updates. The varsity game scheduled for May 17th vs Cleveland Central Catholic has been canceled.

Bengals "Squeeze" Wildcats in Bottom of the 7th

The late inning magic returned to Nobby's Ballpark as the Bengals defeated St. Ignatius with a late inning rally 7-6.  Down five runs heading into the 6th inning the Bengals rallied to score four runs in the 6th and two in the 7th to pull the upset.

Junior shortstop Tim Szalay started the rally in the 7th with a triple.  Junior first baseman Jordan Durham followed with an RBI double to tie the game.  Junior infielder AJ Bruno ran for Durham and advanced to 3rd base on a wild pitch.  Following an out and walk junior pitcher/ infielder Joe Fisher came to the plate.  Fisher took a first pitch ball then perfected the squeeze play with a great bunt as Bruno scored the winning run.   Fisher pitched four innings of relief and recorded his first Varsity pitching victory.  He also added an RBI double in the 6th inning.

The JV continued their impressive season with a 9-7 victory over St. Ignatius.  The team has a 15-2 record heading into the final two weeks of the season.

Bengals Win 2 ... Receive 2nd Seed in Sectional Tournament

The Varsity Baseball Team finished the week by scoring plenty of runs.  The Bengals scored 32 runs over a 24 hour period to beat Senate leader Lincoln West 15-5 and state ranked and tradition rich Tallamdge 17-7.  The offense is led by Jake Marinelli (.405  2HR 20 RBI), Ryan Kovar (.382 3HR    22 RBI), Tim Szalay (.381 2HR 26 RBI), Zach Walker (.373), Taylor Branisel (.369 4 Triples 22 RBI) and John Hromulak (.369 21 runs 15 RBI).  The team is hitting .364 and averaging 9 runs per game.  Heading into the second half of the season and the tournament the team is 12-9.

The JV Bengals stayed hot as well...  The team traveled to Tallamdge on Saturday and came away with a DH sweep.  The team has a 14-2 record.  The Freshman team finished the week at 4-7.

The 2010 State Baseball Tournament begins next week.  The Bengals were seeded 2nd in the Division II Euclid bracket.  The Bengals will play the tournament opener On May 11 vs Cleveland South at Nobby's Ballpark (4:30).  With a win the team advances to the Sectional Final on May 12 vs the John Hay/East Tech winner.  The game on the 12th will also be played at Nobby's Ballpark at 4:30.

Just a reminder... The game scheduled this Friday vs John Marshall has been canceled.  Instead the Bengals (JV & V) will travel to the Northern Ohio Baseball Complex in Strongsville to play St. Ed's (5pm).  The Freshman game vs St. Ed's has been moved to Nobby's Ballpark for a 4:30 start on Friday.