Staff photo / Dan Hiner Cardinal Mooney third baseman Taco Verroco gets ready to throw to first during the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game against Ursuline at Bob Cene Park in Struthers.

STRUTHERS — A soft liner was hit to Andrew Bushey at shortstop. The runner was going to second base on the pitch, and Bushey caught the ball and calmly threw to Ben Oddis at first to complete the double play.

The double play ended the game and clinched a 4-3 win for Cardinal Mooney over rival Ursuline on Tuesday at Bob Cene Park in Struthers.

“Having my guys behind, playing defense, I can just throw a pitch to hit and they can make a play,” Cardinal Mooney pitcher Ford Stacey said.

Rowan Urbach got the Fighting Irish (4-7) on the board in the first inning. Anthony Triveri reached on a hit and stole second and third, setting up a short sacrifice fly in between second base and the outfield by Urbach.

In the bottom of the first, Mooney (8-4) had runners on the corners with one out after singles by Bushey and Kaden Reese. An RBI single to left by Oddis drove in Bushey to tie the game at 1.

Ursuline’s AJ Snyder got the second inning started with a single to center, and he advanced to third on a two-base wild pitch. The Irish took a 2-1 lead on a Thomas Kosovan sacrifice fly to left, scoring Snyder.

Then Will Petty drew a leadoff walk for Mooney in the bottom of the second, and Trent Litman reached on a fielding error at third base. Johnny Brenner reached on a bunt single down the third-base line to load the bases, but Jacob Gugliotta replaced him as a pinch runner due to injury.

Ryan Reese hit into a double play, but Petty scored to tie the game again at 2.

Kaden Reese got on via an infield single, and an RBI double to right by Stacey scored him to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead in the third.

Marc DelliQuadri got things started in the fifth with a single down the left-field line. He advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Triveri to tie the game at 3.

Stacey led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to left for Mooney. Petty bunted Stacey to second, and he advanced to third on a flyball to right. Stacey scored on a wild pitch by Triveri, giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead.

“We’re battling. We compete more at home plate,” Cardinal Mooney coach Eddie Reese said. “We still strike out a little too much, but our situational baseball is getting better and better each game.”

Kosovan singled to lead off the seventh, and a throwing error on a bunt put the tying run on third with nobody out. But Mooney’s defense responded with the game-ending double play.

“How are we gonna respond tomorrow? That’s a good team we lost to,” Ursuline coach Paul Kempe said. “It’s frustrating when you lose to your rival. They’re extremely talented, they’re having a good year.

“In six of our seven losses, we can point out the mistakes that we made against good teams that put us in these situations. That’s the game of baseball. We gotta find ways to quit beating ourself.”

Balog got the start for the Irish. He pitched five-plus innings, allowing three runs – two earned – on seven hits. Triveri entered in relief in the sixth, giving up one hit.

“(Joe Balog’s) a bulldog,” Kempe said. “In this spot, we trust him. I think in the third inning, he really got into a groove. Joe pitched a heck of a game, Stacey pitched a heck of a game, but we gotta help Joe out. Just some costly mistakes that are uncharacteristic of us, but have hindered us in some big games this year. The big thing right now is we gotta find ways to quit beating ourselves.”

Stacey pitched a complete game for Cardinal Mooney in the win. He allowed four runs on six hits.

“I tell our pitchers every day, just give us a chance to win,” Eddie Reese said. “He did that, went all seven with a pretty low pitch count. Had some quick innings, threw strikes and did pretty well. I like how he competed tonight.”

Due to the weather this spring, there is a slight oddity on the schedule for both teams. Mooney and Ursuline both had openings after opponents needed to cancel due to conference make-up games.

That means the Cardinals and Irish will meet again on Tuesday for a third time this season. Mooney will go for the sweep, something they haven’t done since 2018.

“We got them next Tuesday, so hopefully we can go 3-0 and sweep them,” Stacey said. “It’d be great to be a team at Mooney that could sweep them.”