By Rob McNerney
PBR Ohio Northeast Scout 

Mentor – In a rematch of Region I's 2013 Ohio Boys Baseball Tournament quarterfinal game, No. 34 Aurora once again came out on top over No. 6 Mentor.

On an extremely windy April afternoon several talented baseball recruits took the field.  Like their 2013 meeting at Thurman Munson Stadium, this game was also decided by one run.

The host Cardinals would strike first plating a run in the bottom of inning number one.  With one out, starting shortstop Brandon Kasberg, an Ohio Northern recruit, doubled to left field.  Trevor Boslett then singled to right field scoring Kasberg.  Despite the quick run Mentor would find it very difficult to score again off of Aurora’s defense and their starting pitcher A.J. Kimes. 

Kimes, a 2016 LHP, used his defense to his advantage on this date.  Despite allowing a total of 10 hits, Kimes was able to work out of several jams as he induced a total of three double play balls.  The all junior infield combination of third baseman Nick Ely, shortstop Matty Carpenter, second baseman Andy Weber and first baseman Carter Semancik may be one of the top infields in the state of Ohio. 

The Cardinals offense would only get to Kimes one more time.  They would load the bases in the bottom of the fourth inning after a Matt Eiswerth walk and back to back bunt singles by Evan Lovick and Nick Fillar.   With the bases loaded and nobody out, Mentor was poised to break this one open.  However, Aurora would turn their first double play, this one of the 6-4-3 variety, killing all of Mentor’s momentum.  After four innings Mentor led 2-0. 

The Greenmen offense found it equally difficult to get anything going off of the Cardinals starter Ryan Kanetsky (pictured right).

Kanetsky, a 2015 RHP, used his off-speed arsenal to keep Aurora off-balance, holding them scoreless for five full innings.  He was in quite the groove setting the Greenmen down in order in innings one, three and four.  However, Aurora finally got to him in the top of the sixth inning.  Leadoff batter Kirk Janoch started the inning off with a single.  Janoch would move to second on a Matty Carpenter ground out and then flash top end speed scoring on an Andy Weber (pictured below) single to center field.  Weber, currently ranked 26th in the 2015 class by PBR, is University of Virgina recruit.  After another ground out, unsigned senior DH Griff Peterson would knock Weber in with an RBI single of his own tying the game at two.

Aurora would carry that momentum with them into the bottom half of the sixth inning.  Eiswerth would again get the Cardinals offense going this time with a leadoff single.  After a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk, Mentor had runners at first and second.  However, Kimes would get Domenic Dengel to ground to third base where 2015 Nick Ely would start the 5-4-3 double play.  

The Aurora offense would knock Kanetsky out of the game in the seventh inning with a one out single by Devin Bradley.  Brandon Kasberg came on in relief and quickly retired the first batter he faced.  With two outs the Cardinals appeared ready to head into the bottom of the seventh inning needing only one run to secure the win.  However, a defensive error in the outfield allowed Bradley to score the go ahead run. 

Kimes would finish the game off setting the Cardinals down in order in the bottom of the seventh inning as he got his third double play ball of the night.  Kimes finished the game with one strike out and three walks.  With the win he improved to 3-1 on the year. 

Kanetsky, now 1-1, finished the game with two strike outs and one walk.

Aurora improves to 9-6 on the season and they look to continue their winning ways on Friday April 25^th as they take on Nordonia.  Mentor suffered only their second loss of the year and now sits at 9-2. 

To view scouting notes from this game, please visit the Ohio High School Scouting Blog.  The blog gets updated throughout the week.

To discuss this game, please visit our partner JJHuddle.