Huskies look to regain momentum in OVAC tournament

After starting the season on a well-documented hot streak that saw the Harrison Central Huskies baseball team win eight of its first nine games, the bats have cooled a bit against stiffer competition as the weather has warmed and the calendar nears May.

The good news: An 11-5 record through the midway point was strong enough to push the Huskies into the OVAC 4A Championship field as the No. 4 seed. The potentially not-so-good news: They will square off with top-seeded Indian Creek for the third time in the semifinals. Indian Creek has had their number twice in the past two weeks, outscoring the Huskies 15-1 across the annual home-and-home series.

A team goal every season, it is important to qualify and compete for a conference championship. However, from certain viewpoints the Huskies are still in search of their first “hat-rack” victory of the year. The Huskies were swept by Creek, and after a 6-2 setback at Mazeroski Field last Tuesday, the St. Clairsville Red Devils delivered the same fate. To add to that, Steubenville Big Red escaped a late-game rally and topped the Huskies 5-3 at the Crimson Complex in Jefferson County last Friday night.

At this point in the season, the Huskies are hanging their hats on a series sweep over the Beaver Local Beavers (11-7), a respectable club that finished just outside the 4A field, placing fifth in the standings at the cutoff last Friday night. But historically speaking, Valesko looks much closer at how his team competes against the upper echelon of the Valley’s baseball ranks. Right now, there is some work to do against those higher levels of competition to ensure the Huskies keep their place among those ranks.

It just so happens the opportunity to turn the tide in big games will present itself in their next three outings: an OVAC semifinal matchup with Creek April 27, a road trip across the river to meet the defending state champion Wheeling Central Maroon Knights April 29 and either an OVAC title game appearance or consolation matchup this weekend. Notably, Linsly, the 4A No. 3 seed, will meet Edison, the 4A No. 2 seed, in the other half of the championship bracket. The Huskies will meet one of those two squads this weekend.

In last week’s two-game slate, the Red Devils outhit the Huskies 14-8, but the game stood at just 3-2 before the Devils exploded for three insurance runs in the seventh and removed any doubt. On the road at Big Red, the Huskies outhit Steubenville 9-7 but couldn’t recover from a three-run first inning for the home team. When the Huskies got an RBI double from Gage Stoneking that plated freshman Colson Crothers and cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fifth, Big Red responded in the bottom half by scoring two runs to regain control of the game.

The Huskies scored in each of the final two innings, even stranding the game-tying runs on first and third in the top of the seventh. In summary, the ingredients are there for Harrison. A complete game against higher-quality teams is what they are missing. If the Huskies are going to close in on that signature win, the defense will have to avoid these multi-run innings, and the offense will have to find the timely big hits to avoid playing uphill in these bigger matchups.