EAST SPRINGFIELD - Richmond American Legion Post 740 pitcher Greg Stagani is good.
Toronto Post 86 received an up close and personal experience of just how good Tuesday as the Richmond pitcher gave up one hit, faced just 18 batters, and struck out 13 during Post 740's 10-0 six-inning home win.
"Greg has worked hard and he's reaping the benefits of that," said Richmond head coach Sam Davis. "He's a good boy and he's always done what we've asked of him. I'm really happy for him and for us. He pitched great.
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THAT’S GAME — Richmond’s Alec Jones drives a single to left field to knock in Mark Smyth for the game-ending run during Post 740’s 10-0 six-inning win over Toronto Tuesday in East Springfield. Ralph King was behind the plate for Post 86.
-- Fred Younce
"There's nothing else you can say."
Even after Austin Lucas picked up Post 86's hit with a one-out single in the fourth, Stagani induced the next batter to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.
"He threw well," said Toronto head coach Steve Sninchak of Stagani. "He threw strikes and we just didn't hit him."
Richmond scored two runs in the bottom of the second. An Alec Jones single drove in Mark Smyth, who drew a walk to get on, and then later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
"There are areas we can work on," said Davis. "We didn't swing the bats as well as I would have liked. Of course we've been off a few days, but I'm not making any excuses because we have to work on a few things.
"We're just trying to get better every day. We'll keep working on some things."
The score remained that way until the bottom of the fifth when Richmond broke things open. Josh Pasek opened the frame with a free pass followed by back-to-back Chad Wickham and Sam Orr singles. Orr's sent Pasek home. With Orr on first and Wickham on third, a passed ball allowed Wickham to score and Orr, who broke to steal second on the pitch, rounded to third. The throw to third ended up in left field allowing Orr to score on the play as well.
Later in the frame Smyth blasted a double and two batters later was driven home by a Jones double to make it 6-0.
In the sixth, Post 740 closed things out. Donavon Martin stroked a double to the fence to lead off the inning. Pasek followed up by drawing his third walk of the game and, with one out, Orr crushed a double to drive both home. Orr scored on a groundout to second by Stagani to make the score 9-0.
Smyth then hit his second double of the game and, after a Ty Yocom walk, was knocked home for the third time by Jones. This time on a single to left to close out the contest.
"We had an opportunity today to work a couple different people in a couple different positions," said Davis. "They didn't get a whole lot of work, but they did the job.
"It was nice for us, because we have a lot of games coming up, to get a whole game out of Greg. That sets us up for a couple more days where we'll be OK with our pitching staff."
Richmond is in action today at Steubenville while Toronto plays again Thursday when it hosts Tuscarawas County.
"I just think we need to come to the field with more emotion," said Sninchak. "I think we were flat coming in. We just didn't play our kind of game today."
Richmond 10, Toronto 0
Post 86 000 000 - 0 1 2
Post 740 020 044 - 10 11 0
POST 86: McIntosh (LP, 5K, 6BB) and King. Lucas s.
POST 740: Stagani (WP, 13K, 0BB) and Orr. Pasek 2r; Wickham s, r; Orr d, s, 3rbi, 2r; Stagani rbi; Yocom s; Jones d, 2s 3rbi, r; Smyth 2d, s, 3r; Martin d, r.
