Staff photo / Preston Byers Girard’s Dominick Tolone gets ready to throw a pitch during Wednesday’s game vs. Poland at Liberty Park.

GIRARD — With Wednesday’s dramatic, walk-off win against Poland, the Girard baseball program moved to 11-6 on the season and 4-2 in the Northeast 8 Conference, which puts the Indians just a game behind first place.

Being in this position is a long time coming for Girard, which has not had a winning season since 2018 and had failed to reach double-digit wins from that point until 2024. In that timespan, the Indians also went 11-45 in NE8 play.

Aaron Alejars, who is in his 13th season as the Indians’ head coach, has overseen all of the highs and lows, the latter of which directly coincides with Girard becoming an NE8 founding member.

“Coming in when we started the Northeast 8, we came out of a conference that was probably a little bit smaller schools, and we’re still maybe a little bit in that smaller sense,” Alejars said.

The NE8 is among the strongest and most competitive conferences in Northeast Ohio and consistently features regional and state-qualifying teams, particularly Poland and South Range.

“[It’s] a heck of a conference. The Northeast 8 is great competition,” Alejars said. “Every day, you got to have your A-game. I think anyone can win on any given night in our conference.”

Unlike for much of the past six years, Girard has found success in the NE8 this season, even against some of the top teams.

After sweeping Niles by a combined score of 17-1 during the first week of the season, the Indians split consecutive one-run games with Lakeview in early April. Girard then fell short in a late rally against first-place Hubbard on Monday before handing Poland its second loss of the season with a three-run seventh-inning comeback on Wednesday.

“We’re turning the corner in a sense, where we know we can compete with these teams,” Alejars said. “But I think just understanding that if you believe in yourself, anything is possible, and just doing little things to give yourself a chance to be great.”

The reason for that belief may be that this year’s Girard team is very experienced; the Indians have eight seniors who collectively, Alejars said, serve as strong leaders.

Still, Alejars said he stressed to his team that having played a lot of games does not mean they’re entitled to anything.

“Coming in, we had a lot of guys with experience, but my main message to them, and even in years past, experience doesn’t guarantee wins. You still got to show up and do the little things,” Alejars said.

Girard appears to be on the verge of posting its first winning record in seven years – the Indians need to win two of their final seven games to ensure an over-.500 record – but Alejars emphasized the importance of closing the regular season strong over the next two weeks.

“It’s not over yet,” Alejars said. “Last year, we had it and we lost our last three to end up 12-13, so a lot of games left there.”

After a five-day layoff, Girard plays South Range in a home-and-home back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday. The Indians similarly face Struthers twice the following week before going head-to-head against LaBrae on May 15 and Poland on May 17. Girard is also expected to host Hubbard to complete the season series after its game on Tuesday was rained out.