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Mathews gains revenge vs. Maplewood

Tribune Chronicle / Brian Yauger Brandon Smith crosses home plate Tuesday in Mathews’ 7-1 win over Maplewood.

FAIRPORT HARBOR — Some wins taste sweeter than others.

That was the case for Mathews as the Mustangs avenged their 2018 district semifinal loss to Maplewood, beating the Rockets 7-1, Tuesday in the Division IV Fairport Harbor District.

“We got a lot of respect for Maplewood,” Mustangs coach Jared Terlecky said. “They ended our season last year. We know that when they’re on, their pitchers can shut down anybody. We knew they’re going to play pretty good defense. Their shortstop had a great day today.

“We knew it was going to come down to basically us throwing strikes, and then our defense making plays and then getting timely hits.”

Mathews will face Bristol on Thursday in the district championship game.

Tribune Chronicle / Brian Yauger Adam Wibert delivers a pitch Tuesday in Mathews’ 7-1 win over Maplewood.

Those timely hits came in the third inning when the Mustangs put five runs on the board.

Jake Miller provided one of those timely hits, finishing the game with two hits and two RBIs.

Adam Wibert gave up two walks early, but after a visit to the mound from Terlecky, Wibert went on to finish the game, ending with a no-hitter and striking out 15 in the process.

“I went out to the mound and told him, ‘listen, if they’re going to hit it, they’re going to hit it, but we can’t be putting anybody else on base’ “ Terlecky said. “After that he beared down. I think he got two strikeouts and the groundout there to get us out of that jam with no runs. That was one of the key moments of the game.”

On the mound for the Rockets was Shane Swogger who had two strikeouts.

Coming into the season expecting a rebuilding year, the Rockets end their season in the district semifinals. Terlecky expects more battles between the two schools over the next few years.

“These kids have played each other from the time they were probably in PeeWee,” Terlecky said. “They know each other’s names, they know who’s who and whatever else. There’s a lot of pride at both schools as far as who will win the game.

“Over the years there has been a lot of good battles with them and I’m sure there will be again. I’m sure next year we’ll probably have another one, and who knows maybe it’ll be us, maybe it’ll be them. I’m sure something like that is probably coming.

Terlecky knows Mathews is in for a tough matchup against Bristol.

“We played them early in the year they are excellently-coached,” Terlecky said. “Coach (Jeff) Thompson does a great job. I know they’ll play good defense, I know they’ll hit line drives. You can’t sit back and think you’re going to blast doubles off their pitchers.

“We were fortunate to get seven runs today. You’re not always going to get that. We ended up getting a couple fortunate swings today. I would expect a tight contest Thursday.”

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