Staff photo / Preston Byers Mineral Ridge’s Andrew Gillie runs to first base during the Rams’ win over Western Reserve in Weathersfield on Friday.

WEATHERSFIELD — Mineral Ridge quickly erased an early deficit and fended off a rally to defeat Western Reserve on Friday for the second time in as many days to remain undefeated in Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference play.

After falling behind, the Rams scored four runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead, which they never relinquished in the 14-7 home victory.

Despite the win, however, Ridge head coach Anthony Ragozine was less than pleased with his team’s performance, particularly after jumping out ahead 10-1.

“Not good, definitely not up to our standard,” Ragozine said. “Don’t get me wrong, [Reserve is] a good team, but when you have a 10-1 lead, you can’t give that up.”

In the top of the first inning, starting pitcher Nick Anderson allowed a pair of hits, the second of which scored the Blue Devils’ first run.

The Rams responded in kind, scoring four in the bottom of the inning and knocking Reserve starter Marek Stevens out of the game in the process.

Ridge continued to pull away over the next few innings; the Rams scored three runs each in the third and fourth to establish a nine-run advantage.

The fifth inning proved to be a tough one for Ridge and Anderson, though. The sophomore pitcher allowed three runs, four hits and a walk in the inning before Ragozine replaced him with Gavin Harding.

“The last two games especially, our pitchers have not been getting ahead and staying ahead,” Ragozine said. “We preach like four to five pitches an at-bat and get out of it. And we haven’t been doing that lately. We’ve been going full counts way too much as a pitching staff for the last couple games.”

Harding similarly struggled cleanly getting through Reserve’s batting order, as the reliever walked four and surrendered a pair of runs before being replaced by Jack Gillie.

While Ragozine tried to find a solution to the Rams’ problems, Blue Devils coach Rob Armeni’s confidence in his team’s resilience was growing.

“We’ve come back before,” Armeni said. “This is not the first time this group will battle to the end. There’s no clock in baseball. I just told the kids out in right field, if you had to break it down into halves, they won the first but we came back and definitely had momentum in the second half. I’m gonna look at it that way, so never quit.”

Reserve scored three runs in the fifth inning and another two in the sixth to pull within four runs.

The Rams closed out the game relatively strong, however, scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth and limiting the Blue Devils to one run in the top of the seventh to complete the season sweep of Western Reserve.

While Ragozine attributed Ridge’s showing to a lack of energy, he said he was unsure of why that was the case after playing the same opponent a day earlier with much more energy.

“[There] was a lack of focus,” Ragozine said. “We preach that all the time. There was no energy today. From the start, there was zero focus in the dugout. And that’s what happens when good teams like them hang around and they make ball games when they shouldn’t be.”

Still, the win is another notch in the Rams’ proverbial belt this season. Mineral Ridge (6-2) is 5-0 in the MVAC, having defeated Lowellville and Reserve twice each, as well as Waterloo.

The victory also wraps up one of the Rams’ busiest weeks to date this season, as they played all but one of their five scheduled games.

“It’s nice because you get to see the live at-bats and your guys are playing,” Ragozine said. “Obviously, it does take a little bit of a toll on arms. … But the value of it is you’re seeing live at-bats, you’re competing all those days. [When it rains], one day you’re playing, the next day you’re in the gym for the next two or three days. So I like it, because it keeps these guys competing all the time.”

Armeni also enjoyed the busy nature of this week’s schedule.

“For us, it’s big,” Armeni said. “We’ve got a young group. We’ve got seven freshmen, so playing full games, good games, competitive games, games full of strategy. More guys are getting in, and more guys are learning the game. And that’s what we’re here for.”

With Friday’s loss, Western Reserve dropped to 6-3 on the season and 3-2 in conference play. The Blue Devils are scheduled to host Lowellville on Monday before visiting the Rockets on Tuesday to complete the back-to-back.

Similarly, Mineral Ridge will visit Springfield on Monday and host the Tigers on Tuesday.