By Dan Machovina
PBR Ohio Assistant Scouting Director 

North Royalton, OH – With the sun finally starting to peak through in Northeast Ohio, No. 46 Brunswick (3-0) and North Royalton (2-1) began Northeast Ohio Conference play with the Blue Devils coming away victorious in a well-played 5-2 affair.

Brunswick got on the board in the top of the first inning as junior outfield prospect Gary Clift (ranked number 52 in Ohio’s 2015 class) grounded out to the third-baseman, giving him an RBI, and the Blue Devils' a 1-0 lead.

With the score remaining 1-0 going into the top of the fifth inning, it was Brunswick again who would make a mark on the scoreboard. Two walks to begin the inning got things started, then senior out-fielder Kyle Sasala got down a bunt for an infield hit loading the bases with zero outs.

Freshmen outfielder Jake Williams then hit into a 4-6 fielder's choice to plate a run across. The next hitter, senior Chaz Bova (ranked number 271 in Ohio’s 2014 class) squared up a double over the center-fielder’s head, giving him an RBI double and making it 3-0 in favor of Brunswick.

In the bottom of the sixth inning North Royalton would show some fight. The first run scored in the inning came from a fielding error made by the usually sure hands of Brunswick’s junior short-stop Ricky Kemp, who made six clean plays on ground balls throughout the game. After the error came a walk, and then an RBI single to left field from designated hitter Mike Jayjack made it a 4-2 game going into the seventh inning.

Brunswick would score an additional run in the top of the seventh courtesy of an RBI single off the bat of senior third-baseman Corey Welsh. The Blue Devils would then send back their reliable senior, right-handed pitcher Nick Furman (ranked number 112 in Ohio’s 2014 class) who would post a zero in the bottom half of the seventh.

North Royalton received a solid starting pitching performance from senior right-handed pitcher Noah Sasse. He pitched four innings giving up three runs on two hits, struck out one, and walked three. Brunswick got a complete game performance from Furman who went seven innings, gave up six hits, struck out seven, and walked two batters.  

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

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