Howard Township's Mack Gaideski (right) hauls in a pop up near second base Thursday night against Pikeville, Ky. at the Ohio Valley Regional. Howard Township defeated Pikeville 12-2. (Daily Star photo/SCOTT NOVAK)

By SCOTT NOVAK

Niles Daily Star

The opening day of the Ohio Valley Regional at Pepper Martin Park went off nearly without a hitch.

One team did not show up for the tournament, but the weather cooperated for the most part and Howard Township Cal Ripken got all the games in.

Lopsided victories seemed to be the name of the game on opening day.

There was not a close game of the five played.

Thursday night in the final game of the day, Howard Township rallied to earn a 12-2 win over Pikeville, Ky.

Howard Township B was not as fortunate, falling 15-0 to East Side from South Bend, Ind. in the first game of the day.

Brandywine was also defeated in its first game as it fell to Harris Black in the night game, 31-0.

Howard A…12

Pikeville…2

Howard Township jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Pikeville, who rallied to tie the score at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth.

Howard Township was not to be denied however, scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the 12-2 victory in its opening game of the tournament.

Mack Gaideski and Noah Cagampang both had inside-the-park homeruns for Howard.

Branden Lake had a single and two doubles, while Robert Buckland had a single and a triple.

Zack Borton had a double and Chris Howard a pair of singles.

Howard B…0

East Side…15

A pair of big innings lifted East Side from South Bend, Ind. to a 15-0 win over Howard Township B in the opening game Friday afternoon.

East Side scored seven runs in the first and eight runs in the second.

Tyler Deboe had a double and a triple for East Side, which also got a single and a triple from Bryce Lesher and Peter Royeca.

St. Johns Grey…25

Schererville…7

St. Johns hit early and often against Schererville in posting the 25-7 win in five innings.

St. Johns scored four in the first, six in the second, seven in the fourth and eight in the fifth.

Trailing 17-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Schererville scored six times to extend the game an extra inning.

Daniel Pritchett had a pair of single, three doubles and an RBI for Schererville, while Nathan Carlson had two hits and four RBIs.

Jackson Krueger had two hits and Isaac Herd a single and an RBI.

Full names were not provided for the St. Johns team.

Harris Gold…14

East End Mishawaka 2…2

No results were provided

Brandywine…0

Harris Black…31

No results were provided by press time.