By Eddie Dwyer
Hartsville, South Carolina - In today's baseball, they describe it as playing "small ball." As far as Saint Ignatius' veteran Head Coach Brad Ganor is concerned, it is "The greatest, purest form of baseball that we have." And, as Coach Ganor also emphasized, his Saint Ignatius Wildcats are "Very good at it." That was never more evident than in Tuesday's 4-1 victory over Latta, South Carolina at the prestigious Southeastern Baseball Classic in storied Jimmy White Park.
On what was a picture perfect day for the opening round at one of the nation's premier high school baseball tournaments, the now 2-0 Wildcats were sound in almost every facet of the game, especially in the bottom of the fourth inning. Already leading, 2-0, Saint Ignatius silenced the "home" crowd with a clinic on how to move a runner over and bring him home. With a strong wind taking the long ball out of the picture on Tuesday and Saint Ignatius' talented junior right-hander Andrew Mulhern keeping the Latta bats under control, the Wildcats took advantage of a two-base error by the Vikings, who couldn't handle a slicing fly ball near the right-field line off the bat of senior co-Captain and first baseman Tommy Grosel.
Latta, a 2015 South Carolina Class A State Champion that carried a 9-3 record into Tuesday's matchup with Saint Ignatius, then witnessed Coach Ganor's purest form of baseball. Wildcats junior catcher Austin Jones laid down a smooth sacrifice bunt that moved Grosel to third base and Tommy raced home with the Wildcats' third run when senior center fielder Evan Henry delivered a safety squeeze that drew a wide smile from Coach Ganor's longtime veteran Assistant Coach Mark Terlep.
Latta would get back in the game by scoring a run in the top of the fifth inning. Coach Ganor then turned to his deep bullpen and junior Sam LaGuardia came out throwing heat city seeds in the top of the sixth. Sam struck out two of the four batters he faced in firing 18 total pitches. Senior Jack Eyink followed LaGuardia to the mound in the top of the seventh inning and needed just six pitches to earn his second save of the young season. Jack sent the Vikings down on a strikeout, a 4-3 ground out and a pop up to endless hustle junior second baseman A.J. Gaich.
It was a memorable late afternoon/early evening for Eyink family, as junior Leo Eyink delivered the 'Cats' fourth run with a single that scored junior pinch runner Flynn Lenehan in the bottom of the sixth.
Saint Ignatius' first two runs batted in were courtesy of multi-skilled sophomore shortstop Michael McNamara and senior designated hitter JJ Conway. Mulhern, in what was his first Varsity start, showed the promise Coach Ganor is counting on. Andrew yielded two hits, a run and struck out three in the 67 pitches he delivered. Coach Ganor had Andrew on a 70-pitch count.
Led by Grosel's golden glove work at first base, something the Wildcats' faithful have grown accustom to from the four-year Varsity performer, Saint Ignatius' defense was solid. Senior left fielder Mark Bobinski, whose heart is bigger than Jimmy White Park, made a smooth over-the-shoulder catch in left-center field and the Wildcats' infield, which this old-timer believes has the potential to become one of the strongest in Saint Ignatius' rich baseball history, was impressive again on Tuesday.
Along with Grosel, McNamara and Gaich, Coach Ganor has one of the best in all of Northeast Ohio at the hot corner, junior third baseman and University of Nebraska recruit Michael Holdsworth.
The official line score from Tuesday, which was courtesy of the Wildcats' outstanding stats guru senior Seamus Hough, showed Saint Ignatius at 4-6-1 and Latta at 1-3-5.
Up next for Coach Ganor and Saint Ignatius is the game this corner circled when the 2018 Southeastern Baseball Classic schedule was released - Wednesday's 1:45 PM matchup with Virginia area power Paul VI in Jimmy White Park.
Paul VI (Fairfax, Virginia), which defeated Sumter, South Carolina, 10-0, on Tuesday, stands 10-1 on the season and jumped from sixth place to the fourth spot in the latest highly respected Top 10 high school baseball poll by The Washington Post. Coach Billy Emerson's Panthers from Paul VI have been a clutch ball club this spring, winning four games by one run and going to extra innings to triumph twice. Paul VI, whose motto is "Grow in Grace and Wisdom," competes in one of the strongest high school baseball conferences in the mid-Atlantic region, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC). Junior right-hander Matt Geraci, who turned in a gutsy effort in the season opener, a 5-2 victory over Mayfield on Fisher Field at Baldwin Wallace University, gets the starting call against Paul VI.
"Andrew (Mulhern) worked well with Austin (Jones)," said Coach Ganor, who pointed to the significance of Andrew's ability to pitch out of a bases loaded and no outs situation in the top of the fifth inning by yielding just one run. "We could have given up three or four runs there easily, and we didn't. And that's the mark of a very good baseball team."