EUCLID — District championship or bust is the new focus for the Medina baseball team.
After maintaining a mathematical chance to win the overall Greater Cleveland Conference title over the prior five days, the Bees’ spirited run came to an end Thursday in a 5-1 loss to Mentor in the GCC Tournament final.
The loss by Medina (16-9) clinched the outright crown for Solon (15-3) before the Comets stepped onto Stanic Field later that evening to play the third-place game against Strongsville.
“Obviously, we’re really upset since this was a team we totally could have beaten,” Bees third baseman/pitcher Chris Fryer said. “We just didn’t come out to play, I guess. That’s what bites us in the butt.”
Not that it mattered after 7 p.m., but the inaugural GCC title formula caused a lot of confusion among the Bees because the league did not put anything in writing.
The first proposal had the GCC Tournament winner taking the trophy, no questions asked. Then the regular season and tournament were supposed to be weighted equally, but that was scratched in favor of each victory — regular season or tournament — counting as two points.
Ultimately, a mixture was used. Each regular-season win was worth two points, and a 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-1 point system accompanied the tournament placements.
As a result, Solon led Medina 20-16 entering Thursday due to a two-win lead in the regular season. The Bees needed to win the tournament for 10 points, while the Comets needed to lose to Strongsville in the third-place game for six points, which would have resulted in a co-title.
Mentor’s Nick Smith made that mess irrelevant by throwing a four-hitter against Medina.
The Bees trailed 3-0 before stepping into the batter’s box, as starter John Curtis walked in a run prior to recording an out. Reliever John Kalucis allowed two inherited runners to score, while Matt Eiswerth’s RBI triple made the score 4-0 in the second.
“(The first inning) definitely put us back and put us down and in doubts, but that’s just the problem,” Fryer said. “We need to come back and know we can come back and win this game.”
Medina left runners in scoring position in the first two innings before finally getting on the board when Fryer’s up-the-middle single scored Collin Winters, but the Cardinals (10-7) added an unearned run and the Bees never seriously threatened again.
Winters and Fryer combined for all four hits. The rest of the team was 0-for-19, though Trace Peterson walked and was hit by a pitch.
Kalucis and Fryer were solid in relief to give Medina a puncher’s chance. Kalucis was charged with one run over three innings, while Fryer went the final four innings and gave up an unearned run.
Mentor 5, Medina 1
MENTOR 310 100 0 — 5 9 1
MEDINA 001 000 0 — 1 4 2
WP — Nick Smith 7 innings, earned run, 4 walks, hit by pitch, 6 strikeouts. LP — John Curtis (1-4) 0 innings, 3 runs, 3 earned, hit, 2 walks, hit by pitch, 0 strikeouts. Mentor (10-7) — Ricky Valeri 2 singles, 2 runs; Matt Eiswerth single, triple, 2 RBIs; Matt Detering 2 singles. Medina (16-9) — Collin Winters 2 singles; Chris Fryer single, double.