SWEEP CITY!
WILDCATS GET GUTSY STARTING EFFORTS FROM TIM MCCOY AND MATT HOYER, SOLID RELIEF STINTS FROM MATT LYNCH, TOM ROLLE AND ZAK SHOCKLEY, MORE CLUTCH HITTING FROM DAN ROWBOTTOM AND CONOR HENNESSEY AND SOME SOLID DEFENSIVE PLAY HEADED BY MIKE RUFFING’S GLOVE AT SHORTSTOP. IT ALL ADDED UP TO TRIUMPHS OVER THE CELTICS FROM DUBLIN JEROME AND ZANESVILLE’S BLUE DEVILS.
THE JUNIOR VARSITY SPLITS ITS DOUBLEHEADER IN DUBLIN AND THE FRESHMEN ‘CATS GROUND THE SOLON COMETS.
TRACK AND FIELD TEAM CAPTURES THE CHAMPIONSHIP AT HILLIARD DAVIDSON (See after baseball report).
BY EDDIE DWYER, COPYRIGHT MARCH-APRIL 2012
Dublin, Ohio – With two outs and runners on first and third in the top of the fifth inning during Saturday’s game against Zanesville, there was a noticeable hush radiating from Saint Ignatius’ dugout.
Standing in the on-deck circle, Wildcats junior second baseman Dan Rowbottom quickly turned and started walking up and down in from the dugout, encouraging his fellow Wildcats to get back in the game.
In less than a second the voices went up more than a notch and got even louder when Saint Ignatius’ Mr. Hustle, junior left fielder and leadoff hitter Conor Hennessey, delivered an RBI single.
Rowbottom then stepped to the plate and promptly produced another major two-out blow – a two-run double to the gap in right-centerfield. The ‘Cats took a one-run lead and never looked back as they rallied past the Blue Devils, 6-2, in the second game of a doubleheader at Dublin Jerome High School.
Saint Ignatius, in what was a true pitchers’ duel, edged Dublin Jerome, 2-1, in the opener.
“I just want to touch on the senior leadership,” said Rowbottom, who also provided another two-run double in the Wildcats’ three-run seventh inning. “Especially the captains, they’re doing a great job.”
What about that junior leadership in the fifth inning?
“We came back in our two previous games (extra-inning victories over Twinsburg and Amherst), why can’t we come back now?” Rowbottom said of the little urging he did when he noticed the sounds of silence coming from the dugout. “This is really fun this year, because you can never count us out.”
Riding the emotion of the three-run fifth, Saint Ignatius senior right-hander and tri-captain Matt Hoyer shook off his own error that helped lead to Zanesville’s two-run third inning and shutdown the Blue Devils for the next three-plus innings. Senior southpaw Zak Shockley then sealed the deal out of the bullpen with a strikeout and a ground out.
Hoyer threw 88 pitches, yielded four hits, struck out three and issued three walks in improving to 2-0 on the young season. He helped the Wildcats to their fourth victory in five games.
Along with Rowbottom’s second two-run double, a high drive the opposite way to left center, Saint Ignatius’ other key hits in the top of the seventh were an infield single by Hennessey and a line-drive RBI single by senior center fielder, left-handed pitcher and tri-captain Tim McCoy.
“They were two fastballs,” said Rowbottom of his two game-changing doubles. “The first one was an inside fastball and I turned on that one, and the outside fastball (in the seventh) I was able to stay with. I got under it a little bit and thought maybe they would run it down, but it fell and I’m not going to complain.”
Rowbottom emphasized that he loves using a wood bat this season and firmly believes the wood bats make all of the Wildcats better hitters.
“We’re producing, that’s all you can ask for,” he said.
Zanesville, which got a strong four innings from starting pitcher Austin Miller, is now 2-2 on the season. A right-hander, Miller retired nine in a row at one point.
In the first game under the gray skies of Franklin County, Dublin Jerome’s Masashi Sakamoto and McCoy matched clutch pitches throughout most of the rapidly played matchup.
Saint Ignatius took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a lead-off single by Hennessey, a stolen base by Hennessey, a ground ball to the right side by Rowbottom that moved Hennessey to third and an RBI single through the left side by McCoy that came off a 1-2 pitch.
The Celtics from Jerome tied the game in bottom of the fourth and it stayed that way until the seventh inning.
Wildcats junior first baseman Mike LaManna led off the seventh with a base hit up the middle, senior catcher Andrew Piscioneri laid down a sacrifice bunt and junior infielder Jordan Bufford lined a single to left field, putting runners on first and third.
Hennessey then lifted a sacrifice fly to left for the go-ahead run.
Junior Matt Lynch pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning to earn the victory and junior southpaw Tom Rolle, who struck out 11 in a tough loss at Massillon Jackson on Tuesday, took the mound in the bottom of the seventh and earned the save by recording a strikeout with the potential tying run on third base.
In his five innings of work, McCoy threw 72 pitches, yielded four hits, struck out four and walked two. Sixty-three percent of his pitches went for strikes.
Saint Ignatius’ pitchers were backed up all day by some outstanding defense, including the glove work of senior shortstop and tri-captain Mike Ruffing, who gobbled up everything that came his way.
The fact that his staff totaled five innings against Jerome (1-2) in which the pitch count was 14 or less had Saint Ignatius pitching coach T.J. Donovan ’94 saying, “Now that’s music to my ears.”
Here is how T. J. described some of Saturday’s mound magic.
“I have an understanding with Tim (McCoy) because we were both football players,” said Coach Donovan, who excelled in football and baseball at Saint Ignatius and played professional baseball. “Tim’s an outstanding athlete overall. Sometimes when you put an athlete on the mound, you can get away with giving him the ball and saying beat the other guy. He’s not our prototypical type of pitcher, but when we give him the ball, we have confidence that he is going to beat his opponent. That’s his mentality. He’s a tough kid.
“Matt Lynch is a guy that we are hoping to lean on in a couple of different roles this season and we wanted to give Tom Rolle an inning because he’ll be starting for us on Wednesday (in the home opener against Boardman at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon),” Coach Donovan continued. “Tom did everything he was supposed to do and I’m so proud of Matt (Hoyer). I think a win like that is a culmination of the work he puts in over the winter. That kid has worked so unbelievably hard for a spot in the rotation. He’s a workhorse, sort of an unsung hero, and now he’s really fallen into a leadership role. And he pitched like a leader today!”
Wildcats head coach Brad Ganor, who agreed with Coach Donovan’s assessment, emphasized how extremely proud he is of what this 2012 version of the Wildcats has accomplished thus far, and the way they have done it.
“The pitching was phenomenal and really it has been phenomenal every game,” Coach Ganor said. “We’re just doing a team game. Nobody is playing selfish baseball and we’re getting big hits when we need them, which is good. But those hits are not always going to come. So we have to play a better mental game, because we did miss some signs and things like that today.”
JV TEAM SPLITS TWO: The Wildcats’ jayvee team, which also made the trip to Dublin, lost its opener to Jerome, 3-2, on three unearned runs. But the JV ‘Cats (4-1) bounced back in the nightcap and defeated Zanesville, 4-1. Sophomore right-hander Nick Fabian pitched a one-hitter, striking out 13 and walking one. He had two stretches in which he struck out six consecutive batters.
ANOTHER ALEXANDER ON THE RISE: Freshman right-hander Ryan Alexander, the brother of Wildcats talented senior first baseman/catcher Stephen Alexander, fired a one-hitter as the freshmen ‘Cats defeated Solon, 11-0, on Saturday.
****SAINT IGNATIUS’ SKILL AND DEPTH LEAD TO A FIRST PLACE FINISH AT THE HILLIARD DAVIDSON WILDCAT PREMIER.
Coach Chuck Kyle’s varsity track and field team totaled 128 points in bringing home the championship at Saturday’s annual event. Pickerington North was second with 98 points.
Here is a look at some of the highlights by the ‘Cats’ outstanding performers:
Marquee Montgomery, 2nd in the 100-meter dash, 11:06.
Marquee Montgomery, 1st place in the 200-meter dash, 22:41.
4x100 relay: 4th place – Marquee Montgomery, Dan Way, Tim Shenk and Pat Jeffries, 43.72.
4x800 relay: 1st place – Mitch Baum, Lamar Kemp, Jake Maier and Drew Galang, 8:13.83.
300 meter hurdles: 2nd place – Pat Jeffries, 40.84.
800 meter run: 3rd place – Drew Galang, 2:01.25.
1600 meter run: 3rd place – Jack Miller, 4:33.12
3200 meter run: 3rd place – Ben Radeff, 9:59.79.
4x1600 meter: 1st place – Joe Arquillo, Vince Bartram, Jack Fitzgerald, Jack Miller, 18:34.03.
Distance Medley: 1st place – Jack Maier, Ray O’Brien, Joe Arquillo, Mitch Baum, 10:58.82.
4x110 shuttle hurdles: 2nd place – Ian Woidke, Matt McVey, Tim Shenk and Pat Jeffries, 1:04.65.
Shot put relay: 4th place – Zach Lozar, 49-11.50.
Pole vault relay: 2nd place – Keith Carmichael, 13-00.00.