Newark Catholic baseball riding roller coaster into tournament play
NEWARK ― It's been a season of ups and downs, twists and turns for a youthful Newark Catholic baseball team.
The Green Wave had been riding a recent high, rallying past state-ranked Heath at home and Granville on the road, then scoring an impressive 11-0 win Friday at Johnstown.
On a dreary Saturday, however, NC (9-12) experienced the lowest of lows while playing through the rain, suffering a 14-3 loss in six innings at home to Columbus Academy.
With sophomore stalwart Kane Stephey out injured and senior Nathan Riggleman unavailable, the Green Wave went with two junior varsity pitchers to start the game, and the Vikings (10-11), like NC playing a tough schedule against a lot of bigger schools, pounced on the opportunity. They took an early 6-2 lead, then scored eight runs in the sixth and pounded out 13 hits against five pitchers.
Coach Ron Graves was disappointed, but not totally discouraged, as the Green Wave awaited its Division III district tourney path to be decided on Sunday. NC has shown that it can play with the really good teams.
"They (Academy) came out with the intensity that they were going to come in here and beat us," he said. "They smacked us in the mouth and we didn't do anything about it. With the way they started, our freshman starter (Alex Nagel, who was followed by sophomore Andy Gossett) was a little shell-shocked. But we're trying to get a look at everyone and get them some varsity time. It's a big difference between jayvee and varsity, and they're seeing that. And we have a lot of younger guys playing much of the time."
The Vikings strung together four consecutive hits after a leadoff walk in opening a quick 4-0 lead, but NC responded, cutting it to 4-2. Troy Johnston singled and raced home on a Mikey Hess triple into the left-center field gap, with Hess trotting home on Miller Hutchison's sacrifice fly.
Gossett pitched a scoreless second, and after Academy went up 6-2 in the third, Hess entered and limited the damage over the next three innings. And his fifth-inning double to left scored Rocco Capretta, who beat out an infield hit and kept the Green Wave within 6-3. He had two hits.
But the visitors lowered the boom in the sixth, two runs scoring on a throwing error off a bunt and three more on Joseph Sando's bases-loaded triple. Left-hander Dominic Dunkle threw 107 pitches but finished off a six-hitter, striking out three and walking three. He also had two bunt singles on the slippery field.
"We hit some balls hard, but it seemed like they found all the open spaces," Graves said. "They're a good team. Like us, they've played some good teams and lost some close games. We could see them in the tournament."
Like with most young teams, consistency will be a key for NC moving forward.
"We played lights out last night, hitting line drives and keeping it on the ground, and that's what we've been doing when we're going well," Graves said. "Today, it seemed like we were hitting everything in the air."
Johnston, a senior infielder and one of the captains, has flourished since being moved to the top of the order. He went 10 for 15 in the four games this week, and knows the Green Wave is capable of playing much better.
"The May 1 game, against Granville, was a big win for us. It showed us the level we can play at," Johnston said. "Those games show what we can actually do. But we have to find a way to stay consistent and hit the ball like we're capable. We have to stay at that level and stay competitive. Yes, we fell behind 4-0 today, but we still have to compete."
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark Catholic baseball riding roller coaster into tournament play
