Staff photo / Preston Byers Austintown Fitch’s Landyn Myers celebrates after a double during Monday’s game vs. Lakeview in Austintown.

AUSTINTOWN — Mother Nature interjected more than once during Monday’s non-conference baseball game between Austintown Fitch and Lakeview, but the Falcons prevailed, winning the more than three-hour, five-inning game 16-6.

The two teams did almost as much waiting as they did playing, with the two lightning delays nearly totaling 90 minutes. Despite that, Fitch overcame an early deficit and capitalized on multiple Lakeview mistakes to trigger the OHSAA’s 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“It’s very challenging, especially with your pitcher,” Fitch coach Joe Paris said of the stop-start nature of Monday’s game. “Anytime your pitcher gets going, he ramps up and he throws, and then we shut down for a half hour, 45 minutes. It’s iffy whether he comes back or not, let alone to do it twice in one game. I was a little apprehensive, but our pitcher said he wanted the ball, so I gave it to him, and he did a great job for us.”

Cole Gamertsfelder stuck it out for the Falcons, who endured a rough start by Gamertsfelder in the top of the first inning.

Before the first delay, which came just minutes into the game, the Bulldogs recorded a hit and began to fill the bases. After the more than 40-minute delay, Lakeview largely picked up where it left off and scored a pair of runs on sacrifice flies to take an early lead.

More than an hour after first pitch, the Falcons finally got their chance to hit — and they did not waste the opportunity.

In the bottom of the first inning, despite having two outs, Fitch scored five runs. The first run came on a wild pitch and was quickly followed by a Landyn Myers two-run double. Rocco DiFlorio then drove in another run with a double before the Falcons finished off the first-inning blitz with a steal of home during a rundown between first and second base.

Fitch kept up the scoring in the subsequent innings, driving in a run each in the second and third innings, including a Myers inside-the-park home run after a deep flyball to right-center field, before being interrupted by the second lightning delay when a bright bolt of lightning flashed beyond the right-field fence of Richard L. Coppola Field.

The game resumed about 35 minutes later in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Falcons up 7-2, an advantage that quickly grew to eight runs.

Lakeview responded, though, scoring four runs of its own in the top of the fifth inning to pull back within four.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, who suffered from pitching woes for most of the game, they continued to do so in the bottom of the fifth inning, when the Falcons capitalized on several walks. Fitch scored six runs in the half-inning, the final of which was on a bases-loaded Carter Owens walk.

In total, Lakeview walked a dozen batters and surrendered 11 hits. Gamertsfelder, who pitched 4 2/3 innings, earned the win after allowing two hits, seven walks and five earned runs.

“You like to use [the delays] as an excuse when you lose, but I really don’t think the weather had any impact on what we were doing,” Lakeview head coach Cam Carson said. “We just didn’t play well enough in any phase of the game to give ourselves a shot.”

The win, which came nearly 200 minutes after first pitch, is the Falcons’ sixth of the season and the third in four games. This game, in particular, proved to be one of Fitch’s best offensive outings of the year, which was a pleasant surprise to Paris.

“It was great. We’ve been struggling at the plate, and today, it finally clicked,” Paris said. “We were putting good swings on the ball. We were driving the ball the other way. We were driving gaps. It was just really good to see.”

Lakeview (10-6) is scheduled to play Cardinal Mooney today, while Fitch (6-11) is set to visit Howland on Wednesday.