Rootstown baseball delivers superb district semi win over Cardinal Mooney

STRUTHERS — Three years ago, one of the most talented Rootstown teams in program history dropped a district semifinal to Canton Central Catholic at Bob Cene Park.

The Rovers returned to that stage Monday night to square off against another talented parochial foe (Cardinal Mooney), having lost a number of key players since to graduation and injury.

Undaunted by the glamour of Bob Cene Park, No. 7 Rootstown took control early for one of its most impressive victories of the season as it topped No. 11 Cardinal Mooney, 11-1.

"Our kids rose to the occasion against a very, very quality team that can hit the baseball," Rovers coach Keith Waesch said. "I mean you look what they did against the number two seed, beat them 10-0 in five innings, and you say to yourself, 'Wow, that's a quality baseball team,' but once again, as I tell them, you can very easily beat those quality baseball teams if you can get off to a good start and if you can get the momentum going, and today we had them on their heels basically from the second inning on."

Thanks to Monday's win, the Rovers (14-6) earned a second straight Division III district title game appearance as they are set to face No. 4 Ursuline at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

All after graduating two of their leading hurlers from a season ago, seeing a third go down to injury midway through the year and losing their leadoff hitter during basketball season.

How to explain it?

"We fight," Rootstown senior second baseman Blake Bower said. "We fight."

Rovers senior hurler Nathan Galambos allowed a single run on four hits over five innings of work, backed by a tremendous defensive effort that included a diving catch in left by Joe Weaver and two sprinting catches in right by fellow sophomore Austin Biggin.

"Without that defense, we don't win the game," Galambos said. "I don't have that crazy speed to make kids get scared or anything. I got to just give them strikes they have to swing at, and without them, we're not going anywhere honestly."

While Galambos sent a statement by coasting through the first two innings on 10 pitches apiece, Rootstown came up with timely hits, starting with Weaver's 2-RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the second.

"I was looking for a fastball," Weaver said. "I just swung at it. It was right where I wanted."

After the Cardinals drew within one (2-1) in the top of the third as catcher Jack Desmond doubled to the right-field gap and scored on a balk, the Rovers regained control with a spectacular fourth.

In the top of the fourth, Galambos was able to toss a scoreless frame, helped by a diving catch from Weaver and a leaping catch toward the right-field line by Biggin.

"That [balk] definitely did get to me because I didn't think I did, but I guess I did," Galambos said. "So I don't know, just I knew I had to throw strikes. I knew me getting mad wasn't going to help me out of that situation. So I just focused on the strikes."

In the bottom of the frame, Weaver reached on an error and Biggin drew a walk to set the table for the top of the order. Leadoff hitter Jake Cultrona took a curveball to the helmet to load the bases and catcher Jaggar Kokochak followed with a bases-loaded walk to push the lead to 3-1.

Still, the ballgame was very much in doubt as Blake Bower strode to the plate.

The senior second baseman responded with a sharp grounder between third and short to double the Rovers' two-run advantage.

"I was trying to put bat on ball," Bower said. "I've been in a slump lately and I've been mad at it. I was very eager to get a hit and seeing it go through like that just helped my confidence a lot."

Following a pitching change, Rootstown sophomore third baseman Tony Karp flashed a nice opposite-field approach, sending an RBI single down the first-base line.

The Rovers then put the game away with a five-run bottom of the fifth as they got another big hit from Biggin, as he pulled a single to right field, and also were the beneficiary of four walks and two Cardinals errors in the inning.

Remarkably, the three sophomores in the starting lineup Monday — Biggin, Karp and Weaver — reached base in all 10 of their plate appearances.

Together, those sophomores have paired with a myriad of seniors, many of whom didn't get much varsity playing time prior to this year due to some loaded classes ahead of them, to put the Rovers back in the district championship game.

"I'm so happy for this group," Waesch said. "I mean we started the season with basically four-and-a-half seniors with any experience at all, or four-and-a-half starters back, and for them to do what they've done, I think a lot of people had written us off, especially with the injury to [Brandan] Nicholas and then the injury to Mason Bartholomy, and they could have very easily packed it in. They very easily could have, but instead they wanted to write their own book here, and right now, it's one that I think a lot of us want to read and I certainly want to see the next chapter later this week."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Nathan Galambos gem, timely hits lift Rootstown to district semi win