Friday, May 29, 2015
By Joe Scalzo
HUDSON
As inspirational speeches go, it won’t match Knute Rockne’s “Win one for the Gipper” or Al Pacino’s “Inch by Inch” speech from “Any Given Sunday.” But it was effective.
After giving up four runs in the second inning — including three on bases-loaded walks with nobody out — Poland High baseball coach Rich Murray visited junior pitcher Jared Burkert on the mound and decided to stick with his ace.
What did he tell him?
“He just told me to stop walking people, pretty much,” Burkert said. “Let them hit it. We’ve got a great defense.”
Burkert got three infield outs to escape further damage and danced around trouble the rest of the way, leading the Bulldogs to a 6-4 win over Tallmadge in Thursday’s Division II regional semifinal at The Ball Park at Hudson.
“It would have been [easy to replace Burkert] but he’s been one of our aces all year,” Murray said. “I had to let him try and run it out. I know how good he is.”
Poland tied the game on four runs in the top of the third inning thanks to five hits, including a two-run double by Dom Lipari. The Bulldogs added two more in the top of the fourth thanks to back-to-back wild pitches by Tallmadge reliever John Rensel. Poland’s No. 8 hitter, Nick Romeo, and No. 9 hitter Eric White combined for three hits and four runs in those two innings.
“The bottom of our lineup came up big for us,” Murray said.
Burkert (6-0), who entered the game with a 1.88 ERA, wasn’t at his best, battling a hip strain and calf cramps for most of the game. Ironically, the cramps may have helped his curveball.
“I couldn’t find it [the curveball] in the first couple innings, but once the leg started to cramp, I couldn’t push off as hard and the curve started to work,” said Burkert, who had the same problem in the 2014 district championship game. “The cramps just wouldn’t go away. I chugged maybe five waters and six Gatorades and they just would not go away.”
Burkert finished with three strikeouts and four walks and gave up 10 hits, including back-to-back singles to start the seventh. Although Tallmadge (14-15) took a small-ball approach for most of the game, manager Kenny Linn let his No. 5 hitter, Matthew Noel, swing away with nobody out in the seventh. He hit a shot to Lipari, who stepped on the bag for the forceout. Burkert then got a flyout to left and a grounder to third to end it.
“Matty’s been swinging pretty well the last couple weeks and I just told him, ‘We’re not bunting. Put the ball in the gap and let’s roll,’” Linn said. “He hit it hard. He just didn’t get it up in the air.”
Anthony Calcagni had two singles, a run and a RBI for Poland (26-2), which will play Canton South (23-7) at 5 p.m. today. Romeo also had two singles and Ricky Svetlak singled, doubled and drove in a run.
Poland is 0-2 in regional finals since Murray took over in 2003 and the Bulldogs have made just one state appearance, which came in 1983 when Murray pitched Poland past Mentor Lake Catholic.
When asked what he remembers from that game, Murray said, “Not much.”
So he doesn’t have a videotape of the game?
“No film, just newspaper clippings,” he said.
Today, Adam Knight (8-0, 0.44 ERA) will have a chance to give him a few more.
“I know me and my teammates feel great for him,” Burkert said of Murray. “We want to help him get to states now.”