The Baseball team came back twice to defeat University School 6-5 on Tuesday and win the OHSAA Regional championship! The Bruins improve to 25-4 on the season and advance to next week's State Tournament.
Padua trailed 4-0 after five innings when the offense manufactured runs with timely hitting and executed quality at bats against the Preppers.
Michael Cangelosi started the inning with a single, followed by
Chase Martin's walk and hit by pitch to
Brendan Reilly to load the bases.
Patrick Loftus lined a single to right field to score a run, then
Jacob Rihvalsky lined a single down the first base line to score 2 more runs and cut the deficit to one run. With runners on the corners,
Reed Cervenka executed a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score Loftus and tie the game.
The Preppers responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to regain the lead going into the top of the 7th inning. Martin opened the inning with a walk and advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Reilly when Rihvalsky bunted for an RBI single to tie the game again at 5-5. Cervenka followed with an RBI single to give the Bruins a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Ben Thomas closed the game in the 7th inning to give the Bruins the victory.
Padua will play in the OHSAA State semi-finals on Thursday next week at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton at 4pm.