Meadville can't overcome miscues in 9-7 loss to Warren

Apr. 25—Meadville battled several miscues, winter-like weather and the Warren Dragons at Eldred Glen on Wednesday. Ultimately, it was too much for the Bulldogs as they lost 9-7 in the Region 5 matchup.

It seemed like it just wasn't the 'Dogs' day. Meadville had several opportunities to score extra runs or get out of an inning early, but the Dragons didn't let that happen.

"We didn't hit when we had to," Meadville head coach Tony Tartaglione. "Our pitching really wasn't there today either, but kudos to Warren, they were hitting the ball,"

Warren struck first, but the Bulldogs responded with a two-run second inning and a three-run third inning to lead 5-2 after three. In the fourth, Warren tallied five hits and aided by a Meadville error, scored four runs in the inning.

The Dragons walked on base three times and registered one hit in the fifth inning to take an 8-5 lead, a lead they wouldn't give up.

In the bottom of the fifth, after a hit by pitch, error and a walk, Meadville had the bases loaded with no outs. Further proving it just wasn't their day, the 'Dogs grounded into a double play and only scored two runs in the inning despite the golden opportunity.

"We had bases loaded a couple times and we stranded a lot of guys on the base paths, you can't do that," Tartaglione said. " That's what happens."

Meadville again loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning, trailing 9-7, but were unable to bring anyone home. In the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs managed to get one base runner. Jacoby Thompson dove headfirst into first and beat the throw, but he was stranded at first as the 'Dogs couldn't get a timely hit.

Warren out-hit Meadville 11-9. Meadville's Thompson and Rocco Tartaglione were each 2-for-4. Brighton Anderson, Ian Miller, Aiden Kleist, Rooco Woodrow and Cam Arpin each had one hit. Miller had a double and scored three runs.

On the mound, AJ Feleppa, Ryan Reichel and Woodrow combined for eight strikeouts and six walks.

Meadville was credited with two errors, but had a couple other makeable plays that didn't pan out. The loss moved Meadville to 7-3 overall and 5-3 in the region. It's the Bulldogs' third straight loss after losing to McDowell on Monday and region leader Cathedral Prep last week.

To turn things around, Tartaglione pointed to better execution.

"We have to stay after it. We need to execute little things and we haven't been dong that," Tartaglione said. "We can't lay a bunt down, we're not getting that big hit. We had a couple errors defensively, again. We just need to clean it up."

Meadville is scheduled to host Franklin today at 4 p.m. in a non-region matchup.

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Warren (9)

(AB-R-H-BI) Hoffman 4-1-1-0, Dippold 4-0-1-1, Berdine 4-2-1-0, Zdarko 2-0-1-2, Cochran 4-1-1-0, Snyder 3-1-2-0, Wyman 3-1-2-1, Valencia 4-2-2-1, Slattery 4-1-0-0. Totals 32-9-11-5.

Meadville (7)

(AB-R-H-BI) B. Miller 5-0-0-0, Tartaglione 4-0-2-0, DeSantis-Biggs 4-0-0-0, Anderson 3-2-1-0, I. Miller 3-3-1-0, Kleist 2-2-1-1, Woodrow 4-0-1-1, Arpin 4-0-1-1, Thompson 4-0-2-0. Totals 33-7-9-3.

Warren 011 421 0 — 9 11 5

Meadville 023 020 0 — 7 9 2

BATTING

2B: W — Berdine, Dippold, Snyder; M — I. Miller.

PITCHING

(IP-H-R-ER-SO-BB) W — Zdarko 4.2-6-7-0-3-2, Hoffman 2.1-3-0-0-2-1; M — Feleppa 4-10-6-4-4-0, Reichel 1.1-1-3-3-1-6, Woodrow 1.2-0-0-0-3-0.

Alex Topor can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at atopor@meadvilletribune.com.