Eisenhower players celebrate after beating Cochranton 15-14 in eight rounds on Friday. Photo by Jane Neal
Russell – Kyle Hunt’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted Eisenhower to a dramatic 15-14 baseball victory over Cochranton on Friday.
In a testament to never giving up, the Knights found themselves trailing 9-0 before their first batter, but put up eight runs in the bottom of the first inning to bridge the gap. Hunt, Cam Jakubczak, and JJ Darr all had an RBI, and Brok English and Derek Childs drove in a pair of runs to highlight the rally.
Eisenhower added a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning on Cochranton’s errors to take the lead 10–9.
Griffin Williams entered in relief for the Knights and retired 10 in a row before Cochranton exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth to take a 14-10 lead.
Eisenhower evened it in the bottom of the sixth when Jensen, Casey, Jakobczak, and Childs all singled to drive in a run to tie the game at 14 – all heading into the seventh.
Hunt came to the field for the Knights and shut out the Cardinals, who finished with 13 strikeouts.
Then Eisenhower put the game away in the eighth inning.
Jakobczak and Johnny Palmieri singled out to start the race. Jakubczak stole third and Childs walked to load the bases.
That brought Hunt to first, and he hit Jakubczak’s single with the win.
The Knights struck out 19 strikeouts, led by Jakubczak, Hunt, Childs, English, Palmieri, and Jensen.
“We told the boys to keep going, one game at a time, one hit at a time,” said Eisenhower coach Derek Jensen. I’m just proud of these guys. Keep working hard. We had some tough, close matches where we came out on the short end, (so) it’s good to see their hard work pay off. (It was) just a great team win.”
The Dragons bounce back with an out-of-area baseball win
dragons “break”
WATTSBURG — Having gone 33-6 in three District 5 losses since Saturday, the Warren baseball team “I broke out a bit” in an 11-3 out-of-district win on Friday in Seneca.
The Dragons (3-5 overall) lead 7-0 after two innings on their way to their first win on the road since the final game of the 2024 regular season.
“It was good to get out a bit after some tough games,” he said. Warren coach Andrew Morrison said after lopsided losses to Corey, Cathedral Prep and McDowell. ‘Our mid-system really stepped up today. ‘Dip’ (Eric Dippold) is alert now and he’s a really good hitter when he’s attacking the way he’s been in the last few games. Anthony (Errett) is always tough and has been on base all four times. … Owen (Bloom) is someone we’re counting on to get us through and he did a great job today.”
Diebold finished 2-for-4 with a home run, three stolen bases, four runs and four RBIs. Errett was 2-for-2 with a double, two walks and two runs. Blum finished 3-for-5 with a double and five RBIs. Aidan Zdarko added three hits and Geo Elinsky two more on the 13-hit offense.
“The big difference today is that we were strong at every stage,” he said. Coach Morrison said. “The pitchers did a great job throwing batters. We have a long week next week so we wanted to continue the countdown to pitching pitches. We only made one mistake and stole 10 bases; that hitting combination is a good recipe.”
Conor Hoffman started on the mound for Warren, combining with Carson Farr, Zdarko, and Archie Tychonchuk to knock out nine Seneca fighters.
Also, Carson made a diving left to save two runs in the sixth inning,” Morrison said.
“I’m proud of the guys because they came out ready to go,” He said. “They got a little bit of a taunt on me after the McDowell game (lost 14-1 on Wednesday), and they responded really well. (With) three home games next week, we want to use that momentum and run here.”
Also on Friday in the rookie win, pitchers Warren C.J. Wyman and AJ Slattery got together for a pinch hit and Slattery hit a two-run homer.
– – –
John Setler contributed to this report.