LORAIN — After a rough stretch in the eighth and ninth innings, Amherst graduate and Lorain County Ironemn catcher Connor Weir came through in the end.

Weir’s single to center with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning scored James DiBiasio to give Lorain County a 5-4 Prospect League win over Slippery Rock on Saturday at the Pipe Yard.

With the win, the Ironmen get their first win over the year over the Sliders and improve to 4-5.

"I was just hoping for an opportunity after that (eighth and ninth innings)," Weir said. "I don’t know what it was — just not seeing the ball. I just didn’t do my job I let a few guys advance and they scored. I was looking to put the ball in play."

With the Ironmen leading 4-1, Slippery Rock scored two runs in the eighth inning off of reliever Ben Bokor. The Sliders tied the game in the ninth inning when James Lundstrom, who was pinch-running for Brooks Schneider, scored on a pass ball. Lundstrom reached third after two wild pitches by Cameron Palmer.

Nate Tomaszewski led off the 12th by getting hit by a pitch. He went to second on Michael Burke’s fifth hit of the game. DiBiasio was brought in to pinch-run for Tomaszewski before Weir came to bat. Battling Sliders Shelby Dixon, Weir worked the count to full. On the next pitch, he lined a shot into center to score DiBiasio.
Dan Poskocil (Elyria) pitched two scoreless innings to pick up his first win of the season.

Ironmen pitcher Sean Blackburn made his first start of the season, but it turned out to be very short. He left after just two batters after he was hit with a line drive by Tell Taylor in the right bicep.

Jason Pascuzzi, who just joined the team from the University of Cincinnati, relieved Blackburn with runners on first and second, He got out of the inning without any runs being scored.

The Sliders were able to score in the second inning with Radley Haddad, who reached after being hit by a pitch, scoring on Mason Dillon’s single to left.

The Ironmen took advantage of a couple of Slippery Rock errors to explode for four runs in bottom of the third inning.

Zak Blair’s single to left brought home Andrew Kubuski, who reached on an error, to tie the game at one.

Slippery Rock pitcher Jeff Barto got Cody Koch (Perkins) to line into a double play. However, he walked Brad Hallberg t re-load the bases. Jeff Cola hit a grounder to Sliders second baseman Chris Vopinek, who saw the ball go between his legs, to allow Alvis and Blair to score.

Michael Burke singled to right to score Hallberg and give the Ironmen a 4-1 lead.
Pascuzzi allowed just one hit over his last three innings of work. He went six strong innings, allowing just the one run and scattered five hits.

Ironmen pitcher Ben Boker walked two batters with two outs. Haddad’s triple scored Jon Capasso and Michael Durham to cut the Ironmen’s lead down to 4-3.

The Ironmen will continue their home stand when they host the Chillicothe Paints toady at 2:05 p.m.

Courtesy of Scott Sommers