Week Three Brings Conference Play

It is that time of year. Conference play has begun and the fight for a conference championship started off with a bang!

After having no games during the week, we went 3-0 this weekend as Lincoln Memorial came to The Reservation to kick off the conference season. We won the first game 9-2, the second 9-8 and the third 2-0 to complete the sweep of the Railsplitters.

I am lucky to be a part of an extremely hungry team who is refusing to walk away from this season with anything less than a conference championship. There are only two players (Wil Huneycutt and Nathan Furr) who have experienced winning a regular season conference title. This is a feat that the rest of our team is eager to reach.

There were three particular people who really stepped up and helped our team reach the sweep. These three were either not noticed, simply got looked over or their “shining moment” got forgotten by many.

The first person who needs to be recognized is Mario Parisi. He is a freshman from Shirley, New York who has switched positions several times since he has become a member of this team. That can be a very frustrating experience but Mario does not let that get in the way of his support for this team.

Throughout the games this weekend, Mario was extremely into what was going on and cheering on everybody. He truly kept the dugout alive and was a great support to me when I would hear him cheering.

One of the characteristics of a great team is one which fully supports each other and fills each specific role with the understanding that every role is different and just as important as the other. Mario is one of the great examples of people who put this idea to work.

The second “hero” of the week in my eyes was Wil Huneycutt. Wil is the definition of consistency on a baseball field. I honestly could put him in this blog every single week, as he always gets the job done.

One of the main things I notice when Wil enters the game is the comfort and confidence every player gains in knowing that everything is now under control. It appears that a sigh of relief comes across our faces because he is just that good.

Often times he goes unnoticed because he is far from flashy, he usually throws in the middle to late innings, and he just never appears to be in trouble to have opportunities to get out of trouble.

This weekend Wil entered the first game in the 7th inning with two runners on base and two outs and struck out the batter. He then went on to have a great 8th inning only allowing a 2 out, infield single.

Huneycutt also threw in the first game of the double-header, coming in for the 8th inning of an 8-6 ball game. Wil did a great job as he got through the frame allowing only one run on two hits and obtaining two strikeouts. As he always seems to do, Wil entered the game with a lead and left it the same way.

The job Wil does game by game is unbelievable and he does not receive nearly enough credit for how well he performs every time he pitches.

The third shout out this week goes to my partner up the middle, Julio Zubillaga. In the 2nd inning of the 2nd game of the series, Zubi (as he is known), hit his first career homerun as a Catawba Indian.

Leading off the inning, he got a fastball and he did not miss it. He made solid contact and hit a homerun over the left-centerfield fence which was a no-doubter as soon as it left the bat.

We were all extremely excited for Zubi and even more excited when his lead-off homerun led to a 3-run inning and an early lead.

Due to a lot of ups and downs late in game 2, many people let Zubi’s homerun slip their mind, but this was a big moment in his career. It is always extremely exciting when players accomplish something for the first time and I get to experience and be a part of this excitement with them.

Getting the sweep in our first conference series made for a great third week of the season! We are all looking forward to a home game Wednesday against Barton and a trip to Mars Hill for a weekend, conference series!

Week Two!

Week 2 was one which started in a miserable fashion but quickly transformed into a great week and a major confidence builder.  

We opened the week on Tuesday afternoon at Pfeiffer with a loss.  Not just any loss, but a loss of 10-0.  Needless to say, we were not at all pleased and to be honest…quite angry.  Luckily we had an opportunity to redeem ourselves the next day with a home game against the same opponents.  This time we came out on top, winning 6-2.

With the weekend came a 3 game set with Shippensburg (Pa.). We came out on top in all 3 games after trailing at some point during each. The scores in a double header on Saturday were 2-1 and 5-3 and then Sunday finished at 11-5.

In a week which we went 4-1, one of the major bright spots was our ability to execute in “small-ball” situations.  As a team, we worked extremely hard this past week on having a purpose at the plate and being sure to get a certain job done when the task was placed in front of us.

With new restrictions on the bats we are allowed to use, we are beginning to learn that runs are more difficult to come by and we have to move runners when we get opportunities.  It was great this week to watch our practice translate into game situations.

On Wednesday, there were four specific times when situational hitting was carried out to perfection. 

In the first inning, with Josh Hohn on first, Garrett Furr was given the sign for a hit and run.  With Hohn running on the pitch, Garrett singled into right-center field and Hohn was able to advance to third.  This was great work by our clean-up hitter (4^th in the batting order) and what makes him such a valuable player.

The second inning had three batters in a row who executed in situational roles.  With me on first, Julio Zubillaga was given the slash sign.  This means that he squares around to bunt and then as the pitcher throws the ball he pulls the bat back and looks to swing.  He hit a hard ground ball up the middle which got through into center field and gave us runners on first and second with no outs and a great opportunity for more runs.

The very next batter, Blake Houston, laid down a great bunt on the third base line and beat the throw for an infield single. Following Blake’s picture perfect bunt, Ryan Bostian hit a hard line drive to left field which allowed me to score on the sacrifice fly.

This inning was a great example of what our team needs to do in order to put runs on the scoreboard.  Hoping that this execution was not just a fluke, we looked to carry this play into the weekend.

In game one against Shippensburg, Cameron Beard was asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt and he answered the call.  Beard put a bunt directly on the first base line and allowed me to advance to second with one out; another great display of the “small-ball” tactics we hope to implement into our game plan.

On Sunday, in game three against Shippensburg we continued to put pressure on the defense with three different bunts.  With Brett Holmgren on first, I laid down a bunt between the pitcher and first baseman which resulted in a hit. 

Following my bunt, Julio Zubillaga laid down a sacrifice bunt which put me and Holmgren on second and third.  Blake Houston then singled into center field driving in both runners.

In the bottom of the sixth, with Chris Dula on third, Holmgren on second and nobody out, I was given the bunt sign. I put down a bunt and as the ball was leaving my bat, Dula broke for the plate and scored with ease.  This play, called the safety squeeze, worked out perfectly.

Following several batting practices in which we focused solely on bunting scenarios and situations to advance runners, it was awesome to watch our team perform these tasks when it really mattered.

Along with the “small ball” plays, there were several other occurrences which made this week a great one.  Saturday as a whole was simply a great day as we won both games of a double-header. 

The day began as we all walked into the locker room and saw a couple of pictures posted on Nick Lomascolo’s locker which pitcher, JJ Jankowski, found online.  These were a couple of pictures of Nick trying (and ‘trying’ being the key word) to dance.

JJ putting these pictures up really lightened the mood in the locker room and apparently helped Nick as well as he went on to throw eight innings and allow only one unearned run.  For the sake of everybody involved with Catawba, it is a good thing Nick is on scholarship as a pitcher and not a dancer.

It was really funny to see how a simple joke could loosen up a locker room and get everybody relaxed before playing two games.  With that being said, thank you JJ for bringing in those pictures.

The last shout-out goes to a player who was far from an unsung hero in the second game of the double header.  Austin Moyer hit a walk-off, two-run home run to give us the 5-3 victory.  The amazing thing about this home run was that it was Moyer’s first hit as a Catawba College Indian. 

 

I also was extremely excited about this because it was the first game I have ever played in where my team won on a walk-off home run.  That was a really cool experience for me and one that I will never forget.

Week 2 of the 2011 Catawba baseball season was a success in terms of wins and losses, practice transitioning to games, and a little locker room fun!

Week One!

The first week of the season is now complete! The Indians went 2-1 with wins over Barton (by a score of 8-7) and Brevard (score of 12-4), and a loss to Tusculum (score of 7-3).

Opening day was on Tuesday, February 1^st at Barton.  There was loads of excitement throughout the team as we were all ready to see a different jersey on the other side of the field.  The constant saying throughout the players was, “it’s game day…let’s go!”

One of the unnoticed stars of the game was catcher, Greg Lawson.  Projected starting catcher, Josh Hohn, was too sick to make the trip leaving the starting job in the lap of Lawson.  

The catcher is one of the most important positions on the field.  Having this responsibility thrust onto your shoulders the day of the game can be difficult but Greg did a great job.  He handled the pitching staff very well and even in the midst of some struggles, was able to maintain composure and get the pitchers on the track they needed.

I was extremely impressed with the job Greg did in an unexpected role.  He proved he is ready to step up at any point he may be needed.

A second player who went unnoticed was first baseman, Austin Moyer.  He reached base in four out of five plate appearances due to incredible discipline at the plate.  Moyer walked four times in his first game as an Indian!  

One of the keys to having a good at-bat is seeing a lot of pitches and forcing the pitcher to work hard to get you out.  Moyer did an incredible job of forcing the Barton pitchers to throw a lot of pitches and provide opportunities for sluggers Garrett Furr and John Neese to hit with runners on base.

Game one of the season was entirely a team effort to sneak out a win and Lawson and Moyer were two unsung heroes.

The second game of the season took place on Sunday, February 6 at 1 p.m.  This game was at Catawba and a part of the Preseason South Atlantic Conference Tournament.  The weekend’s games were supposed to be held in Kannapolis at the Intimidator’s stadium but due to much rain they were relocated.

The first shout-out for this weekend goes to the entire team for getting our field (The Reservation as we like to call it) ready to be played on.  We arrived at nine o’ clock on Saturday morning and outside of a short breakfast break, worked on the field until three o’ clock to remove as much water as possible.

Were it not for the manual labor put in by our players there would have been no games played this past weekend.

Playing Tusculum, an in-conference rival, we really wanted to play well.  Unfortunately we did not perform as well as we would have liked, but there were some very positive things taken from the game. 

Third baseman, Chris Dula, had never played third base until January of this season.  It has been a process of getting adjusted to a new position and he showed in that game he is ready for the challenge.  

It was becoming late in the game and a screaming ground ball was hit in Chris’ direction with the bases loaded and one out.  He fielded smoothly and delivered a rocket throw to second where Julio Zubillaga relayed the throw to first for the double play.

This was an enormous play and kept us in the game with a legitimate chance to win.  This play was a very positive sign for Dula’s future as a third baseman.

Baseball is a game which weighs heavily on confidence.  Having struggled offensively through the first two games, there was not much confidence in the dugout. 

The first eight innings of the game against Brevard had the same feel.  The team as a whole was simply not swinging the bat well and we were headed in the direction of our second loss on the day.

Something changed in that ninth inning, however. A couple of guys reached base and Cameron White drove them in with a two-run double into right-center field.  Following that hit, I saw smiles on a lot of players’ faces during a game for the first time all season.

As the saying goes, hitting is definitely contagious.  We then erupted for nine runs in the ninth.  I firmly believe that once people started smiling and having a little fun, and once the confidence level rose following White’s double, we turned into a different team for that last inning.

We are a very young team this year and some growing pains are to be expected.  With that being said, it was a very good first week of the season and there were a lot of players contributing to win two of our first three games.