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Canfield rebounds in Indy
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Dominic Pilolli of Canfield’s 11-12 Little League Baseball team takes off from first base during Sunday’s game gainst Midland, Mich., at the Great Lakes Regional tournament at Ferguson Field in Indianapolis. Canfield ousted Midland, 8-1, with help from Pilolli, who ignited a five-run rally with a two-out double in the third inning. Canfield faces Kentucky today in more pool play.
Ohio’s Little League representative blasted Michigan for 1-1 mark
By Ron Clements
INDIANAPOLIS
Put the ball in play and see what happens — that’s what every baseball coach tells young players. That strategy worked to perfection Sunday afternoon for the Canfield 11-12 baseball team.
Canfield scored eight unearned runs on six hits en route to an 8-1 victory over Midland, Mich., in a Little League Great Lakes Regional game at Ferguson Field.
“We’ll take it,” Canfield manager George Beck said. “A win’s a win. We always preach that we’ve got to have one more than the opposing team.”
Following Saturday’s 11-6 loss to Albany, Ind., Canfield struggled early against Midland pitcher Ethan Volmering.
The 5-foot-8 Volmering used a mix of speed and breaking pitches with a wicked curveball to keep the Canfield hitters off-balance through the first two innings.
“He was pitching well and his curveball was working really well, but we weren’t playing defense behind him,” Michigan manager Ken Babinski said. “That’s too bad because we wasted a good pitching performance.”
Half of Canfield’s first eight outs were strikeouts, but the Ohio representatives finally got to Volmering in the third.
A two-out double by Dominic Pilolli ignited a five-run rally as Canfield benefited from three Michigan errors.
“Dom is our catalyst,” Beck said of Canfield’s leadoff hitter. “We go as Dom goes, without question. He’s a heckuva baseball player.
“He hits for average, hits for power, has great speed, great range. He’s just the complete package.”
Pilolli, who went 2-for-3 and reached base three times, said the victory was “extremely important” to give the team its confidence back. As for his two-out rally starter, “Hitting is contagious,” Pilolli said. “We got five runs in that inning and that started it off.
“If you don’t put the ball in play, you probably won’t do great and you won’t win.”
A McCoy Watkins single chased Volmering after 50 pitches and four unearned runs. Reliever Jacob Stone then walked Evan Skripac before Richie Hofus drove in the fifth run of the inning with an infield single.
“We tell them to put the ball in play so they have to make plays,” Beck said. “It’s easier for them if we strike out and have to walk to the bench instead of forcing them to make a play.”
While Volmering was strong early, Canfield pitcher Brandon Mikos walked the bases loaded in the first inning before getting out of the jam.
Mikos settled down and walked just two more while striking out four and surrendering only two hits before hitting his pitch limit with two out in the fourth.
“He comes out and has a good time and battles out there,” Beck said of the 11-year-old who started Canfield’s state championship game against Hamilton. “We needed him to step up and throw a good game for us and he did that.”
When Mikos left Sunday’s game, Michigan had the bases loaded, but Skripac struck out Christopher Swanson on three pitches to end the inning.
“Evan was fantastic, no question about it,” Beck said. “He came in and hit his spot three times in a row. That was huge to get out of that situation with no runs.”
The Michigan state champs scored their run in the bottom of the third when Swanson scored on a two-out error.
Two more Michigan errors led to a pair of runs for Canfield in the top of the fourth. Pilolli scored on a throwing error as Seth Velker ran for second after reaching on a fielding error. Velker later scored on an RBI single from Brayden Beck.
“We made very few errors all year, but [Sunday] we let what usually has been our strong suit get us,” Babinski said.
The Michigan defense gave up another unearned run in the fifth. Jake Kowal led off with a line-drive single to left and scored two batters later as Walt Sweeney reached on a grounder to short.
The win is a confidence booster for Canfield, which avoided an 0-2 hole in pool play. Today at 4 p.m., Canfield (1-1) will play Kentucky state champion Warren County South (0-2) from Bowling Green.
Kentucky followed a 14-5 loss to Michigan on Saturday with a 6-5 loss to Burlington, Wis., on Sunday.
“Winning one with a lot more baseball to play, we’ll see if we can get another one,” Beck said. “We’re going to come out and battle and see what happens.”