Staff photo / Preston Byers McDonald’s Avery Maley slides into second base as Mineral Ridge’s Andrew Gillie attempts to corral a throw on Tuesday.

McDONALD — McDonald’s dramatic seventh-inning rally fell just short Tuesday, as Mineral Ridge staved off another late loss and secured the 8-7 road victory over the Blue Devils in McDonald.

A day after losing at home to McDonald on an eighth-inning error that allowed the Devils to score the game-winning run, Mineral Ridge needed a clutch play of its own to avoid being swept in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference – Scarlet Tier back-to-back. The Rams got just that, as freshman relief pitcher Christian Dunlap, with the bases loaded and the game-winning runs in scoring position, forced Avery Maley to fly out to right field for the final out of the game.

After the victory, Mineral Ridge head coach Anthony Ragozine commended Dunlap, who relieved starting pitcher Jack Gillie and was tasked with getting the final two outs of the game.

“He’s been our guy to go to — kind of the bridge guy — in these situations,” Ragozine said. “And I think he did a really good job of staying composed, especially for the situation getting the bases loaded and kind of pitching his way out of that.”

Before Dunlap took the mound, Mineral Ridge, which led 8-3 heading to the bottom of the seventh, had allowed McDonald to score three runs and load the bases with a chance to walk off with one big hit. The first batter Dunlap faced, opposing relief pitcher Josh Srock, sacrifice flied to center, scoring the Blue Devils’ fourth run of the inning.

Dunlap then surrendered an infield single before facing Maley, McDonald’s shortstop and leadoff hitter, who had reached base each time he had come to the plate, stolen two bases and scored three runs. Maley was unable to play the hero on Tuesday, however, as he hit a fly ball to right field that was easily caught by Trey Rigley for the game-ending out.

For his two-thirds innings of work, Dunlap earned a save, while Gillie was credited with the win. Joey Cappuzzello, who pitched 1.1 innings and surrendered four runs before being replaced by Srock in the second inning, was credited with the loss. Srock, who finished the game for McDonald, allowed seven hits, three earned runs, walked six batters and struck out a pair.

Mineral Ridge’s road win comes just 24 hours after it lost on its home field in extra innings to McDonald. The Rams fell 2-1 to the Blue Devils at Mineral Ridge in the eighth inning after an error in the top of the inning scored McDonald’s second run of the game.

After Tuesday’s victory, Ragozine explained the difference in his team’s performances on Monday and Tuesday.

“Yesterday, you got two really good pitchers in our league. I mean, that [Carson] Klase kid’s dominant and [Xavier] Klamer is dominant too,” Ragozine said. “So you kind of knew that it was gonna be whoever made a mistake was gonna lose. Unfortunately, yesterday, we made more mistakes. Today, we just put the ball in play a lot better.”

In total, Mineral Ridge recorded 11 hits Tuesday, five more than on Monday. The scoring also proved to be much easier in McDonald than back at home; after falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Rams scored four in the second to take a lead that they never relinquished.

Despite a two-run third inning by McDonald, Mineral Ridge held on to a 4-3 lead until the sixth inning, when it gave Gillie a little insurance by extending the lead to 5-3. The Rams did even better in the seventh and seemed to pull away from McDonald with a three-run half-inning to put themselves up 8-3.

For the Rams, AJ Sandy went 2-for-4 with a game-high four RBIs, while Rigley recorded Mineral Ridge’s only double of the game. In addition to Maley’s two-hit, two-walk and three-run performance, McDonald got big contributions from Logan Presco (2-4, 2 RBIs) and Zach Shobel (2-3, 1 RBI, 2 R).

With the victory, Mineral Ridge avoided dropping three of its last four. The Rams, who had won six in a row at one point, lost 10-0 to Springfield on April 18 and defeated Lowellville 16-5 on Saturday before its back-to-back with McDonald.

Ragozine said picking up the rivalry game win Tuesday is a big deal for the Rams.

“It’s huge for our program,” he said. “We haven’t really been able to get over the hump with them over the last three years that I’ve been here, just for conference standings-wise, this was a huge win. We knew we had to split with them after losing to Springfield, so now our hopes of being in the conference title hunt are still alive.”

McDonald head coach Andy Timko said Tuesday was just how baseball works sometimes, with small plays here and there ultimately deciding the outcome.

“We get a hit there, we win the game,” he said. “Things broke their way today and things broke our way yesterday. Two good games.”

As for any extra meaning to the game, Timko said Tuesday’s game was just like any other, except for the MVAC Scarlet implications.

“I don’t get caught up in that rivalry bit. Baseball’s baseball,” Timko said. “It’s a good team over there. We got a good team. We’re still ahead of them in the standings, so we’re still in good position to win the league.”

McDonald, who has played very sparingly this spring, is scheduled to take the field again on Saturday when the Blue Devils visit Waterloo. Mineral Ridge will stay busy, as the Rams play at Champion today before hosting Lowellville on Thursday.

Have an interesting story? Contact Preston Byers by email at pbyers@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @PresByers.