Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Canfield LHP Anthony Groner pitches during the Cardinals’ victory over rival Poland on Thursday at Phil Bova Field in Canfield. Groner threw 12 strikeouts while giving up one hit in six innings of work.

CANFIELD — In recent games, Canfield’s coaching staff opted to skip Cardinals lefty starter Anthony Groner in the rotation in order to give him some extra rest after a long regular season.

The break proved to give the sophomore a big boost, especially with the postseason looming next week, as Groner delivered a gem for the Cardinals on Thursday. He threw 12 strikeouts for Canfield in a 6-0, one-hit shutout victory over rival Poland.

“The more rest, the harder I could throw and the more I could throw, so that really helped out,” Groner said after the win. “I like it instead of having just one day of rest and (relief pitching). But I’m just happy with how I played today. … I just found a rhythm and pace — sometimes I go too fast, so I just had to slow myself down and trust my stuff. That really helped with my confidence, confidence is key, too.”

Groner’s contributions weren’t just limited to the mound for the Cardinals. He also led Canfield at the plate, batting 3-for-4 with an RBI.

The only hit Groner gave up during his outing, and the only hit that the Bulldogs mustered the whole game, came in the game’s very first at-bat when Poland’s Carmine Tukalo belted a line drive deep into the outfield. Tukalo picked up the single, but tried to make it to second base and the Cardinals threw him out at second.

“He was really dominant today — just really located all his pitches, got ahead with a ton of strikes and he seemed to get stronger,” Canfield head coach Matt Weymer said of Groner. “Obviously we think he could have finished, but he was at 90-some pitches and with the tournament coming up, there’s no reason to push him.

“I think he would tell you himself that his season has been a little bit up and down. He has very high standards for himself, and for all the work he puts in year round, for him to come out there in a rivalry game and have a game like that. That’s a moment where you’re really excited for a kid that performed that way in that spot. We have big plans for him come tournament time and this was a really good tune up for that.”

Poland struggled to put the bat on the ball against Groner all game, putting the ball in play just six times and going three-up, three-down in five of the game’s seven innings.

“He was really good,” Poland head coach Rich Murray said. “He was rolling sliders, going fast and keeping us off balance pretty much the whole game.”

Including Groner’s three hits, the Cardinals finished with nine total hits on the evening.

Canfield’s first run came in the first inning off an RBI double from Groner that scored Joey Gabriel after he reached on an error. The Bulldogs finished with four fielding errors in the infield that hurt them in the first few innings.

“One hit and four errors isn’t going to win too many games,” Murray said. “We better work more on hitting and fielding — just not a good day overall.”

The Cardinals then doubled their total in the second inning when Logan Patellis batted in Jake Dovich, who had a leadoff double.

“We got up 2-0, and that was great,” Weymer said. “But I think sometimes when our pitching is really doing well, we sometimes get a little complacent. We needed one more big hit there. We had some guys on in the fourth and fifth inning, and we could have blown it open a little bit. But they did a good job shutting us down.”

Dovich picked up an RBI of his own in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Cardinals broke things open in the bottom of the sixth.

After a base hit from Gabriel and an RBI double from Dylan Mancini, Zain Jadallah blasted a two-run homer deep to left field for Canfield’s final tally of the night.

“We’ve had some weird games this year where we’ve had a bunch of hits and we didn’t end up with a lot of runs,” Weymer said. “Sometimes it’s just execution, not getting a guy in from third base. … Then obviously Zain had the big swing there in the sixth inning to give us a little breathing room. We really preach executing — get the bunt down, get the guy in from third base. They say two-out hits get you to heaven for a reason. We really wanted to get one earlier in the game, but when you pitch the ball like that and play defense like that, you’re going to be fine.”

Canfield (14-10) wraps up the regular season with a visit to nearby South Range on Friday, before opening the playoffs at home against Coventry on May 22. Meanwhile, Poland (15-4) has league games against Girard on Saturday and South Range on Monday ahead of its postseason opener against the winner of Beachwood-Chippewa on May 28.