Staff photo / Preston Byers Tyson Tarajack throws a pitch during South Range’s 2-0 win over Poland on Thursday.

CANFIELD — Tyson Tarajack and Joseph Zuccaro both put forth stellar efforts on the mound Thursday, but Tarajack’s South Range Raiders gave him the run support Zuccaro’s Poland Bulldogs could not in a fast-paced pitchers’ duel, as South Range handed Poland its first loss of the season with a 2-0 home win.

After the pitchers held both batting orders scoreless through the first five innings, Zuccaro ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth. A leadoff double by Andrew Brian put South Range in a position it had not been to that point: with a runner in scoring position. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, the Raiders’ Tyler Wardle laid down a bunt, something he struggled to do in the past, South Range head coach Jim Hanek said.

“To his credit, Ty Wardle worked on that this offseason,” Hanek said. “[He] was not a very good bunter last year, worked on it and he just made the comment; he goes, ‘That’s the first time I’ve gotten a bunt down.’

Wardle’s successful bunt advanced Dylan Smesko, a pinch runner in for Brian, to third base with one out, setting the stage for Gaven Nagy, who connected on a pitch and sent it to left field. Although Poland’s Matthew Boccieri managed to get under it for the second out of the inning, Smesko was able to safely tag up to give South Range the lead.

Having broken the scoreless tie, South Range continued its relatively scorching hot half-inning at the plate with another double. This time, Tarajack drove a ball into the gap in left-center.

Tarajack’s double was followed by an errant pitch that hit Brennen Klasovsky and then a walk to load the bases for Jake Shumate. While Shumate was not able to drive in any runs, one got home anyway before Shumate struck out; a pitch in the dirt gave Lincoln Cleevely just enough time to sprint from third base and slide into home for the Raiders’ second run of the half-inning.

While Poland had been marginally more successful than South Range at the plate until the sixth inning, the Bulldogs’ offense proved ineffective against Tarajack in the top of the seventh. Needing at least two runs to force the Raiders to come back up to the plate, Poland grounded out twice and struck out for the final out of the ballgame.

Tarajack, who struck out seven in a three-hit, complete-game shutout, said the victory was “huge” for South Range.

“This is a great win. After struggling against Hubbard and not getting either one of the wins there and then losing to Girard [for] three straight in a row, I think we’ve had a great week here and we’ve definitely improved,” Tarajack said. “This win means a lot to us, especially Poland being a pretty big rival for us.”

Thursday’s win is South Range’s third in the last four; after dropping three games last week, the Raiders beat Niles twice before dropping the away half of the back-to-back to Poland on Wednesday.

Rich Murray commended both Zuccaro and Tarajack’s pitching performances and remarked that the little things cost the Bulldogs on Thursday.

“We didn’t get timely hitting. We didn’t bunt the ball when we had a chance to move guys over. Just things we’ll work on. We had our chances. Tyson did a good job limiting us,” Murray said. “He just did a great job. And then he started leading us off with curveballs a lot there. We didn’t really react to that real well. So yeah, my hat’s off to him. He won the game.”

It was not an entirely worry-free day on the mound for Tarajack, though. After cruising through the first three innings, Tarajack surrendered a double to Matt Paparodis and then walked Ryan DiLullo to put two runners on base with just one out.

Just when he needed it, Tarajack’s defense came up big. The Raiders’ infield turned a groundball into a double play, ending Tarajack’s toughest half-inning to that point.

However, Tarajack found himself in an even tougher position in the fifth inning; after walking Zuccaro to leadoff the inning, Tarajack committed an error in trying to field a groundball sent back toward the mound, allowing Aiden Thompson to reach first safely and Zuccaro to advance to second with no outs.

Similarly to the fourth inning, though, Poland’s offense failed to capitalize. Tarajack struck out back-to-back batters and forced a popout to get out of the inning with runners stranded at first and second base.

Zuccaro, while credited with the loss, allowed just four hits and struck out five batters in six innings pitched. At the plate, he also drew one of Tarajack’s two walks.

Both teams are expected to take the field again on Saturday; Poland (12-1) is scheduled for a 12 p.m. home game against Boardman, while South Range (10-5) will take on St. Clairsville at 4:30 p.m. at Harrison Central in Cadiz.

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