Staff photo / Preston Byers Struthers starting pitcher Jordan Becker delivers during Friday’s win vs. East Liverpool at Bob Cene Park.

STRUTHERS — Struthers honored its seniors and picked up a comfortable win on Friday, defeating visiting East Liverpool 7-1 on senior night at Bob Cene Park.

The Wildcats took a lead in the top of the first inning before blowing the game open in the third, after which head coach Tom Otto tinkered with his lineup to ensure all of his seniors saw some playing time.

“It’s an interesting mix because we’ve got two guys that are four-year guys, obviously, Anthony Pastella and Michael Scavnicky. They have been four-year starters, been here since day one, through the ups and downs,” Otto said. “Nick Mitulinski is a four-year guy and really has done everything we’ve ever asked him to do. So for those guys to get some time tonight, along with Harry Murray, who was a first-year player coming out for the team. To get them both at-bats and some time, it’s just great.”

Starting pitcher Jordan Becker began Friday’s game quickly, working his way through the top of the first while facing four batters and doing the same again in the second inning.

In the meantime, as the second batter in the Wildcats’ lineup, he also singled, like Pastella before him. Pastella scored not long after on a Scavnicky groundball, but Becker, while trying to reach third base, was thrown out to end the inning.

After a one-two-three half-inning on the mound, Becker got things started again for Struthers’ offense in the bottom of the third. He singled to left-center before Drew Chizmar doubled to center, scoring Becker. Scavnicky then hit an infield single, and Eddie Bradley put one in right-center field to drive in both Chizmar and Scavnicky and give the Wildcats a 4-0 lead.

Travis McMurray followed that up with a double in shallow right field, which allowed a hit by Max Donatelli to get Murray, a courtesy runner for McMurray, home by a few inches.

In his final two innings on the bump, Becker continued to cruise; he faced seven batters, walking one, before being relieved by Pastella for the sixth inning. In five innings pitched, Becker, who Otto said will start their playoff opener next week, allowed two hits and a walk and struck out a pair of batters.

“Pitching was really good for them,” East Liverpool head coach Dan Suznevich said. “We really struggled with the breaking ball early in the game, dropping our hands a lot, popping it up.”

Struthers added to its lead in the fourth inning, when Anthony Torreance, who had drawn a leadoff walk, scored on a Becker groundball. The Wildcats went ahead 7-0 in the bottom of the fifth on a balk by East Liverpool’s Cooper Klein, who was the fourth and final Potters pitcher Friday.

Freshman Aiden Durst started for East Liverpool and was relieved by fellow freshman Parker Handley before the third inning. Freshman Braiden Moore pitched the fourth and into the fifth before loading the bases, at which point Klein, a junior, took over.

During the final few innings, Otto used Murray and Mitulinski as pinch hitters, put Mitulinski at second base and he put both Pastella and Scavnicky on the mound for an inning each.

The Potters scored their only run in the top of the seventh, when Donovan Shallcross and Elliot Fitch hit back-to-back doubles off Scavnicky to start the inning. Scavnicky settled in after that, fielding a weak grounder back toward him before striking out a pair to finish the game.

With the loss, its third straight, East Liverpool dropped to 4-22 on the season. Before their current losing streak, the Potters beat Wellsville and Lisbon consecutively.

“We are very young – very young, starting four freshmen, two sophomores, so they haven’t been in this situation. Maybe that’s good,” Suznevich said. “We’ve started to hit the ball. We didn’t tonight, but we’ve been hitting the ball pretty well. Pitching, defense, hitting – it’s usually one out of three every night – we’re really good at it, and the other two we struggle. But I think that’s just our youth coming into this.”

As the 14th seed in Division IV, Region 15, they will face No. 4 Cambridge on the road Tuesday.

Struthers (10-14) has won back-to-back games after a nearly two-week, five-game losing streak. The Wildcats will attempt to finish the regular season with the streak intact; they play Salem on Saturday before a Division IV, Northeast 1, sectional semifinal vs. Edgewood on Tuesday at Bob Cene Park.

“I’m just proud of our kids,” Otto said. “We had a rough start to the season, bounced back. We play in a very competitive league. In the last few weeks, we had a chance to win the league, [but] things didn’t go our way. We’ve won a couple in a row, getting ready for the tournament, and hopefully we can make a postseason run.”