By Rob McNerney

PBR Ohio Northeast Scout

Hudson – In a Division I district semifinal game the No. 2 seed Hudson Explorers (Ranked 14th) came away victorious over the No. 12 seed Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers 4-2 on Monday night. 

The Explorers were able to fend off a hot Black Tiger team en route to their 22^nd win of the season. With the win, Hudson will play the No. 1 seed Walsh Jesuit Warriors on Tuesday night for the district championship.

After three scoreless innings, the Black Tigers struck first in the top of the fourth inning. Senior Mike Kaser started the inning by earning a walk off of Hudson starter, Nanak Saran. Kaser stole second and scored on a double down the left field line by senior Ryan Horrigan.     

Hudson answered with three of their own in the bottom half of the fourth inning. Senior Daniel Joseph reached on an error and stole second. With two outs Saran was intentionally walked to set up the force play. This brought senior Jared Hoffman to the plate and Hoffman made the Tigers pay as he ripped a single up the middle scoring Joseph. Senior Sam Evans would cap the inning off as he singled to right, scoring Saran and Hoffman.

Cuyahoga Falls trimmed the Explorer lead to 3-2 with a two-out run in the top of the fifth inning. Junior Nick Winar singled home junior Austin Riegler. 

Hudson would answer right back in their half of the fifth inning. Two singles would knock Cuyahoga Falls starter William Marting out of the game. Saran would help his own cause as he brought home Joseph on a sacrifice fly off of relief pitcher Ben Nelson. Marting finished the game throwing 4.1 innings allowing four runs and seven hits while striking out two.   

The Black Tigers would not go down without a fight. After earning three free passes in the top of the sixth inning Saran would exit the game for sophomore Ian Swan. Swan entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs.  He induced an inning-ending groundball before making quick work of the Black Tigers in the seventh to notch his fourth save of the year. With the win Saran improves to 7-0. He finished the game with 5.2 innings pitched allowing two runs and three hits while striking out four.   

The Explorers return to Hudson on Tuesday evening to play No. 1 ranked Walsh Jesuit in the district championship. 

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.

Linescore

Cuyahoga Falls         000 110  0  -  2  4  1

Hudson                     000  310  x  -  4  7  0

Records:  Hudson 22-3, Cuyahoga Falls 8-15

Hudson Starting Pitcher:

Nanak Saran – 2014 (@nsaran3), Win: 7-0 

5.2 innings pitched – 2 runs – 3 hits – 4 strikeouts – 6 walks

Relief Pitcher:

Ian Swan – 2016 (@IanSwan62), Save: 4   

1.1 innings pitched – 0 runs – 1 hit – 1 strikeout – 0 walks

Cuyahoga Falls Starting Pitcher:

William Marting – 2014 (@william_marting), Loss; 4-2. 

4.1 innings pitched – 4 runs – 7 hits – 2 strikeouts – 1 walk

Relief Pitcher:

Ben Nelson – 2014.

1.2 innings pitched – 0 runs – 0 hits – 3 strikeouts – 0 walks. 

Leading Hitters:

Cuyahoga Falls:

Nick Winar – 2015 – 3B: 1 for 3 with an RBI.

Ryan Horrigan – 2014 – 1B: 1 for 1 with a double and RBI.

Hudson:

Jared Hoffman – 2014 – 2B: 1 for 3 with an RBI.  

Sam Evans – 2014 – C: 1 for 3 with an RBI.