Clippers take EOAC

Morning Journal/Matt Morrison
Columbiana’s Alex Eusebio tosses a three-hitter against United on Wednesday.

COLUMBIANA — Columbiana secured at least a share of its third Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference title in four years with a 7-0 win over United on Wednesday.

“We came right out of the gate today,” Columbiana coach Bryce Franken said. “We scored two in the first and two in the second. We kept the momentum rolling for Alex (Eusebio). It makes it a lot easy for our pitchers when we give them run support.”

“All four years I’ve been here at Columbiana we have won it every year expect my sophomore year in which United beat us,” Columbiana senior Alex Eusebio said. “I am happy we are back in this spot. Winning the league is a standard and it is an expectation.”

Columbiana improves to 14-7 and 10-0 in the EOAC, while United falls to 12-5 and 8-2 in the EOAC.

Eusebio was a force to reckon with on the mound for the Clippers as he allowed only three hits and one walk with 14 strikeouts.

Eusebio had a perfect game through four innings that was broken up by a double by United’s Quentin Taylor.

Eusebio had two RBIs and one hit, was a single to left field that scored one run to give the Clippers a 2-0 lead. Daughtery had two hits and one run scored, while Dylan Hogan had one hit and two RBIs.

Columbiana had a little bit of a scare in Tuesday’s game against Lisbon where it saw itself down 5-0 before scoring 11 runs in the fourth inning.

“We made some plays defensivley in the bottom half of the third inning that I felt kind of carried our momentum into our at bats in the fourth inning,” Franken said. “Going down five is tough. We played Ursuline on Saturday and didn’t scored a run then played (United) on Monday and scored one. One run in two games and then you go the first three innings against Lisbon without scoring any runs it was definitely a little unnerving.”

United made some solid plays defensively, but it struggled to swing the bats against Eusebio.

“They key was to play good defense and put the ball in play,” United coach Tim Hydrick. “We faced Alex (Eusebio) and he did a phenomenal job. Hats off to him and the whole team of Columbiana. They hit the ball and played good defense.”

Wyatt Swanson, Wayden Kiko and Taylor each had one hit for United.

Parker Newburn started for United, allowing four earned runs on four hits with eight walks and two strikeouts through four innings before being relieved by Taylor. Taylor allowed one earned run on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

Columbiana has two EOAC games left against East Palestine.

“We went undefeated in the league last year,” Franken said. “We definitely looking forward to next week and doing that again. We know that we are going to have to take it one game at a time with (East Palestine). Coach (Aaron) Walker has those guys ready to play and they have players back from some injuries. We know that they are going to give us a fight just like Lisbon did and we are going to go get them.”

Columbiana will be at West Branch today, while United will be at Beaver Local today.

Game notes

≤ Renovations are ongoing to replace the bleachers at Firestone Stadium. The old seats are now placed at the baseball field in Firestone Park.

U: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0–0-3-1

C: 2-2-0-0-1-2-0–7-6-0