Friday, April 17, 2015
Springfield baseball pours it on Girard; extends shutout streak to 20 innings
NEW MIDDLETOWN
The Springfield High School baseball team has scored at least 10 runs in each of its last four games.
The Tigers also have shut out their last three opponents, including a 10-0 win over Girard High School on a sloppy Thursday evening in New Middletown. So what had Tigers coach Matt Weymer most excited about his team’s play?
“Defensively, we’ve been really good,” Weymer said. “We tell our guys strikeouts are great, but if you just pound the zone, pound the zone and make them put it in play, our defense will do the job.”
So far, he’s been right.
The Tigers (6-2, 2-0 ITCL) have recovered from early losses to Division III rival Ursuline and Carlisle in extra innings and are now running through teams both at the plate and on the mound.
Thursday’s result was no different. Springfield scored three runs in the first and fourth innings and two in the second and fifth innings on its way to another run-rule win. Russell Seymour was also impressive pitching, allowing just two hits over five innings and striking out four.
He walked just two, which especially pleased his coach.
“I mean, our left side of the infield tonight with Brandon Chamberlain and Dalton Donachie was really good,” Weymer said. “We tell our guys, ‘Hey throw a lot of strikes. We’ve got a lot of experience behind you.’
“If you make every team put the ball in play to beat you, you’re going to be in pretty good shape.”
With five more shutout innings against Girard (4-5, 3-3 AAC) on Thursday, the Tigers haven’t allowed a run in 20 consecutive innings.
What’s gotten them there is something not often found in high school baseball anymore.
“Playing good, old-fashioned classic baseball,” said Chamberlain, who made a few more nice plays at third base for the Tigers.
“It’s about knowing where to be when there’s a double play, or when you need to be in the hole, or shift in the count. Just knowing all the basics of baseball and playing the percentages really helps.”
Springfield leadoff hitter Ryan Kohler went 2-for-2 with a triple and two RBIs. He also scored four runs. Catcher Hunter Snyder was 1-for-2 with a double and drove in two runs.
Dylan White recorded the only two hits on the evening for the Indians. He also took the loss on the mound, struggling to string together outs against a difficult Springfield lineup.
“We’re swinging the bats really well right now,” Weymer said. “We don’t want to be hitting our stride quite this early, but we’re playing really good right now.
“Guys are throwing strikes on the mound, defense is catching the ball, we’re getting bunts down and we’re hitting the ball in the right spot.”
The Tigers’ 8-4 loss to Ursuline came in the second game of the season. This past weekend, they played three games near Cincinnati and went 2-1. Every other result against local competition hasn’t been close.
“We’re comfortable with where we’re at,” Chamberlain said. “It was a tough loss [to Ursuline], but we’ll see them again this season and I’m sure if do what we know we can do, we’ll see them in the district tournament as well.”