Harvard blanks St. Edward in 2A regional title game

Harvard ace Chase Blazier took his revenge against the St. Edward baseball team in Saturday's Class 2A regional title game in Harvard.

A year ago, Blazier was the starting pitcher for the Hornets in a regional semifinal, when the Green Wave blitzed him early and cruised to a 17-3 victory. Blazier would have none of it this time around.

The senior effectively changed speeds and held top seed St. Edward to 2 hits in 5 innings and struck out 7, and No. 2 Harvard erupted for 12 hits - including 4 doubles and 2 home runs - in a 10-0 victory.

"Pitching is what baseball's all about, and (Blazier) threw the ball as well as anybody we've seen all year," St. Edward coach Gene Belmonte said. "We only got 2 hits off him and we only hit the ball to the outfield three or four times. He's just a dominant, dominant pitcher and a legitimate No. 1."

Blazier (7-3), who was the losing pitcher for the Hornets in playoff losses in 2008 and 2009, started St. Edward hitters with off-speed pitches for a reason.

"We had them scouted 5 or 6 games and we knew what their tendencies were," Blazier said. "We saw them against (Genoa-Kingston) and they were always swinging at the first pitch." That made each at-bat a guessing game for Green Wave hitters.

"We just didn't know what he was going to throw. He was mixing it up well," Green Wave outfielder Jon Godfrey said. "His curveball set up his fastball very well."

Harvard (23-7) jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against sophomore Luke Duffy (5-6), who balked in the first run. The Hornets broke the game open with 4 runs in the fourth, highlighted by a solo home run from Cody Melson and a 2-run shot by No. 9 hitter Dylan Witt. Harvard put the game away in the fifth with 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 errors.

St. Edward finished the season with a record of 15-18.