Staff photo / Brian Yauger. LaBrae’s Dylan Simpson gets set to throw a pitch Tuesday afternoon against Mathews.

LEAVITTSBURG — Every coach will tell you the importance of a team finding its rhythm and stringing hits together. Putting three hits together could make all the difference in a game.

That’s what happened on Tuesday for LaBrae in the team’s season-opener.

Squaring off against Mathews at home, the Vikings were able to string a handful of hits together. With two runners on and two outs, freshman Lucas Glaser drove them home on what would be the game-winning hit, giving the Vikings a 3-1 victory.

“I’m excited because we got some timely hitting, pretty solid defense on here and solid pitching tonight,” LaBrae coach Ed Anthony said. “That’s what I’ve emphasized to these kids all the way through fundamental baseball. And that’s what we did all the years I was at Western Reserve and made our state runs and stuff. And we’re trying to put the same thing here.”

As coach of the Western Reserve program, Anthony led the Blue Devils on multiple postseason trips, including two state final four appearances in 2014 and 2015, the latter being a second-place finish. Having made that trip to Akron before, the thought of going back lingers in the back of his mind.

He’s hoping to be able to achieve the same thing with the Vikings. But before that, they’re aiming for a league and district title.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I mean our goals are winning a league title and a district title is a realistic goal, but I think any coach would want to go even further,” Anthony said. “I mean, once you have the taste of it, like we had over there, I try to tell these kids that there’s nothing like it. That’s our goal, to go as far as we possibly can, but the main important thing is, and it’s an old cliche, is to compete with every team we play. If we can compete with some of the harder teams we have on our schedule, and we’ve got some good teams coming up. If we can compete, we’re going to be okay.”

Austin Rowe picked up the win for LaBrae. In addition to the game-winning hit, Glaser scored the first run of the game as well.

Mathews moves to 0-1 on the season. The Mustangs matched LaBrae with seven hits, but the Vikings were able to string theirs together.

“Well I’ve got a veteran team so they know what’s expected,” Mathews coach Jared Terlecky said. “Hats off to LaBrae, they played a fantastic game. Their catcher (Brogan Collins) is solid. He doesn’t allow you any extra. There’s no extra bases there, everything you get is earned. Their defense was solid. Again everything there has to be earned which makes it tough to score unless you string a couple hits together. We were getting one and two hits. We just weren’t getting that third hit to seal the deal there.”

Mathews looks to recover today in a road contest against Lordstown.

The Vikings (1-0) take on their first league opponent next with a showdown against Garfield.

“Looking forward to it,” Anthony said. “It’s new to me because I know all these teams in Mahoning County from my time at Western Reserve, but not these ones here, the Garfields and Crestviews and stuff. I’m very familiar with Jared and Mathews because of all the years we went against each other (at districts) but it’s kind of neat. You’re kind of getting a feel and I’m calling other coaches and trying to do my homework on these teams we’re facing. I think the next two games regardless are going to be fun.”

byauger@tribtoday.com