Bedford Stuns Cleveland Heights Baseball 3-0

A couple of Cleveland Heights miscues combined with a complete game shutout from Bedford’s Davonte Anderson led to a 3-0 Tiger defeat Wednesday afternoon.

This came just a week after Cleveland Heights routed the Bearcats 15-0.

“This was a perfect scenario for an upset,” said Mike Dillon, head baseball coach for Cleveland Heights.

The Bearcats struck early with two first-inning runs, both as a result of passed balls. Johnny Mohnasky singled then moved to second on a passed ball. Chris Colston brought him in with an RBI double and then scored from third on a passed ball two batters later.

“Getting runs early got our confidence up for the rest of the game,” Bedford Head Coach Pete Priola said. “That helped us a great deal.”

The Tigers had plenty of chances to fight back, getting runners in scoring position in each inning following the first except for the sixth. But Cleveland Heights couldn’t get that extra hit off of Anderson and stranded eight runners on the day.

“We were hitting a lot of fly balls and pop-ups,” Dillon said. “We didn’t put pressure on (Anderson) the way I thought we would.”

Anderson only allowed two hits and four walks while striking out four. He consistently threw his curveball for first-pitch strikes, keeping the Tiger hitters off balance.

“It was one of the better pitching performances I’ve seen in a couple of years here,” Priola said.

Cleveland Heights’ Sam Gillispie had a solid outing, walking just one batter and allowing four hits while fanning three batters in four innings of work. Joe Eyerman finished out the final two innings with two strikeouts and an unearned run.

Eyerman’s strikeout in the sixth inning did not result in an out because Gillispie (who moved to catcher after being relieved by Eyerman) dropped the ball. Christian Golden pinch ran and wound up scoring off of a Colston sacrifice fly, his second RBI of the day.

Cleveland Heights returns to action Thursday on the road against league mate Shaw at 5 p.m.