'They've never looked back': Aurora baseball overcomes obstacles, pitching injuries
AURORA — On April 6, Cleveland baseball fans were shocked to hear that ace Shane Bieber, pitching so wonderfully for the Guardians, was out for the season.
Aurora's baseball team experienced a similar shock at a similar time. Ace Nathan Fletcher, a University of Rhode Island commit and preseason all-state selection, sustained a hip injury and was out for the season (although he did get to toss an inning on Senior Night).
Like the Major League Baseball team up Interstate 480 from West Pioneer Trail, the Greenmen had to adjust to a big loss.
"It was very devastating," Aurora coach Trent Dalton said. "Obviously, when Nate called me and told the guys, we were all pretty devastated. I mean, that's a big-time arm for us. A guy going to Rhode Island. It was tough to lose him."
After the initial shock, the Greenmen kept moving forward. That was what Dalton preached.
"It was all about staying focused and, 'Hey, we got to figure it out,'" Dalton said. "That's the first step to adversity. Let's figure it out, let's keep going through, and we've had some guys step up. So hats off to Coach [John] Scott, the pitching coach, being able to get these guys going, and they've never looked back."
Long a strength of the Greenmen program, their pitching depth has been as impressive as ever this season, a year in which they've thrived despite losing Nate Albanese and Fletcher for the season. Albanese, too, was expected to pitch big innings for this team.
"Nate Albanese could have been a starter, could have been a reliever," Dalton said. "At the time he got hurt, we used him as a reliever — threw two shutout Innings against Highland, and then he texted me the next day and says that 'I'm probably out for the year.'"
Even with those injuries, the Greenmen have compiled a 2.94 ERA through the first 23 games of the season.
"It's a big loss," Aurora senior Zach Williams said. "We have depth in our bullpen, but with [Nate] and a couple other injuries, we have needed more innings from multiple different guys and extending out appearances so that we can fit it all in. So I think that's been the real role changes, expecting more from people, which I think we've done pretty well."
Some of the Greenmen's top performers on the mound are far from surprising.
Williams, for example, went from being one of two aces to one of one and has gone 3-1 with a 1.45 ERA. Sure, there was some extra pressure on Williams with Fletcher's injury, but he was always expected to be a big-time league starter.
The same could be said for Jayce Unverferth, Aurora's closer all season who has a 0.78 ERA through eight appearances.
Unverferth and Williams were already in those roles, however.
So, who stepped up to fill the void left by Albanese and Fletcher?
Pitchers like juniors Will Bodine (1-1, 2.56 ERA), Tommy Hach (3-0, 0.47) and Andrew Kaczmarek (2-0, 3.64) as well as senior AJ Cifani (0-1, 2.15). Hach has already nearly tripled his innings load from a year ago, from 5⅓ to 15. Bodine, Cifani and Kaczmarek are playing key roles in their first year pitching for the varsity.
"[Will] has really stepped it up for us this year," Dalton said. "He throws strikes. Alex Kaczmarek, AJ Cifani, Paul Davet, I could go on and on about our pitching staff being able to step it up when we lose one of, if not the best, arm on the staff, but the guys have stepped it up. They've never looked back and just go out there and compete, and that's all we can ask them for."
The injuries never stopped.
Not to the Greenmen's pitchers.
Not to their hitters, including Ayden Carlson (.276), Ben Lukasik (.273, broken elbow) and Carson Smith (.250).
But, like those on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, the boys of West Pioneer Trail have kept battling.
"We've had starters, we've had guys coming off the bench getting injured," Dalton said. "Other guys are stepping up, and that's what we want to see. I knew we had the depth, and guys never look back and they keep going. We just got to figure it out coming in, and we are. We're very proud of them for the way they've been working and moving forward and not looking back."
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Aurora baseball overcomes myriad injuries, including to Nate Fletcher
