Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Hubbard pitcher Jonny Adamson delivers during the second inning of Monday’s game against Struthers at Bob Cene Park.

STRUTHERS — Every time the Hubbard baseball team took the lead, Struthers battled back. Literally matching every run in every half inning after the Eagles scored in the top of the frame.

That pattern continued into extra innings, but it was the Eagles that came away the winner on a cold and rainy Monday at Bob Cene Park, pulling out a 9-7 win in nine innings.

“They battled, that’s all you can ask for,” Hubbard head coach John Schiraldi said. “The conditions weren’t ideal. There were probably some plays we should have made, but like I said, the conditions weren’t great. They kept fighting. That’s all you can ask for.”

The game was tied at 2 after an inning, and the Wildcats had a chance to take the lead in the second.

Max Donatelli reached on a fielding error in the home half for Struthers, and Jordan Becker got on with an infield single. But the Eagles executed a relay from center field to tag out Donatelli at home plate to end the inning.

“I took a gamble with the play at the plate,” Struthers head coach Tom Otto said. “I thought it was close. I thought it was a bang-bang play where the cut guy made a good relay, and it was really on the money, so we didn’t get a run there. We aren’t scoring runs, and once we get to certain parts of the order, I feel like we gotta take our chances.”

Struthers got another chance in the third. Drew Chizmar got to second on an infield single and a throwing error. Eddie Bradley bunted him to third base for the first out, but Hubbard righty Jonny Adamson got a shallow fly to center and a strikeout to escape another jam.

In the top of the fourth, Logan Balla drew a leadoff walk for the Eagles before stealing second. Then Lucas Alexander drew a walk with one out, but Chizmar ended the inning with a groundout to first base and a lineout to shortstop.

Becker took over on the mound for Chizmar to start the fifth. He plunked Braydon Songer with one out, and the future Youngstown State Penguin stole second.

Songer scored on a throwing error after Maddox Pieton hit a groundball to short, giving the Eagles a 3-2 lead.

The Wildcats tied it at 3 when Bradley drove in Travis McMurray with a two-out RBI single to center field in the fifth.

Adamson led off the top of the seventh with a walk, and Songer singled to left. A fielding error allowed both runners to advance, putting Eagles on second and third with nobody out. Michael Bobovnik drew a one-out walk to load the bases.

Bella drove in Adamson on a ball hit to left field that resulted in a fielder’s choice. And Colten Yobe pushed the Eagles’ lead to 5-3 on an RBI bloop single to right.

Chizmar drove in McMurray with an RBI triple to center with one out in the home half of the seventh. Then Bradley tied it a 5 with an infield single to short after Hubbard was called for runner interference.

The Eagles had two runners on when Songer came to the dish with one out in the eighth. He hit a bloop single to right field to load the bases, and Pieton delivered with a two-run single that landed in between the right fielder, first baseman and second baseman along the right-field line.

“I thought we did a good job of putting balls in play when we needed to,” Schiraldi said. “We didn’t strike out with guys on base very much, we got bunts down when we needed. We executed some things. Defensively, probably need to clean some stuff up. Overall, it was a good performance.”

Songer came on to pitch for the Eagles in the extra frame

“We knew that if we got the lead late or it was close that we were gonna see Songer,” Otto said.

Struthers got the tying run on base after Mannie Perez walked and Becker singled with one out. Perez scored on a fielding error, and the Wildcats had the tying and winning runs in scoring position.

Becker scored on a wild pitch to tie it at 7, the fourth time the Wildcats came back to knot the game up.

Balla singled to lead off for Hubbard in the ninth. Yobe dropped down a bunt that landed and stayed in a hole that formed in the batters box because of the rain.

Balla scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Alexander, giving the Eagles the lead. Then a two-out throwing error scored Yobe to increase the Hubbard’s lead to 9-7.

Songer struck out the side in order to clinch the win for the team and as the pitcher.

“I felt like the odds of him giving up the lead twice … it probably wasn’t gonna happen,” Schiraldi said.

Hubbard (3-4, 3-0 Northeast 8) got their first win in Ohio since besting Niles on March 31. The team just returned from a trip to Tennessee, where the Eagles played several out-of-state opponents.

Meanwhile, Struthers (1-3, 1-2) dropped its second straight after falling to Alliance on Saturday. And although the Wildcats lost, Otto saw some fight out of his players that could help them as the season progresses.

“Hats off to (Songer), the whole Hubbard team and really both sides. Couldn’t be any prouder of our kids,” Otto said. “We’re young in spots and play a lot of freshmen down in the order and defensively in some key situations there. I’m really just proud of the way we’ve fought in all the games so far. We’ll get better as the year goes on, and we’ll see what happens come tournament time.”