Baseball Insider: The Sweet 16 is the goal

Star Beacon

May 20, 2008 02:47 am

— Then, there were three... as in area teams still involved in tournament play. Northeastern Conference champion Jefferson, fellow league member Edgewood and Premier Athletic Conference co-leader Riverside earned sectional championships last week and will charge into district tournament play this week.
Jefferson and Edgewood will play Division II district semifinal games on Thursday at the Havens Complex in Jefferson, while Riverside will play a Division I district semifinal on Wednesday at Euclid.
Coach Scott Barber’s Falcons (21-6) will tangle with Lake Catholic at Cotton Field. The Falcons are rated seventh in the final Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association state poll, while the Cougars are rated one notch better in sixth.
Coach Steve Kray’s Warriors (16-7) will tangle with Chagrin Falls in the other district semifinal on Thursday in Jefferson at Kidder Field.
The two winners on Thursday will square off at Cotton Field on Friday for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.
“Lake Catholic is a good team, obviously,” Barber said. “They have a couple of good pitchers, not really overpowering, but they’re good pitchers.”
Barber believes his squad will have its opportunities to make something happen on Thursday.
“It comes down to us not making mistakes, but also taking advantage of our chances when we get them, because I do believe we will get them,” he said. “Lake Catholic will make you throw strikes and they play good defense, but I do believe we’ll have our chances.”
Barber said Andy Saksa will be on the hill for the Falcons, but everyone will be available. Saksa is 6-1 with a 1.07 earned run average on the season, allowing 42 hits, seven earned runs and striking out 50 and walking nine in 46 innings of work.
“You play to win one,” he said when asked about the possibility of coming back and playing the next day in the district final. “You play for today and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.
“I know it sounds cliche, but it’s the only way to go.”
Jefferson has an unfathomable 11 players hitting .294 or better — led by .400-plus hitters Ryan Morford (.494) and Saksa (.404) — followed by Dustin Volanski (.393), Zak Blair (.391), J.D. Drews (.382), C.J. Graf (.368), Zak Graf (.357), Anthony Paneto (.333), Kyle Gilchrist (.308), Johnathan Wilson (.297) and Kevin Placek (.294).
Kray believes the Jefferson-Lake Catholic clash could be one for the ages.
“That’s two great teams locking horns right there,” he said. “They both do pretty much everything well.
“I’m sure Scott will have his group ready to go.”
Meanwhile, in taking on Chagrin Falls, the Warriors are matching up with a team that wasn’t expected to be at this level.
The Tigers stunned top-seeded and state-ranked (17th in Division II in this week’s coaches poll) Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin in a sectional championship game last week.
“Chagrin Falls is a very, very aggressive team,” Kray, who watched the Tigers play Kenston on Monday night, said. “They’re a good ballclub. They really challenge you on the basepaths by trying to take extra bases by running on outfielders’ arms, so we’ll be sure to be ready for them to do that.”
Kray said his squad is looking forward to Thursday’s game.
“This is very exciting to us,” he said. “We’re happy with what we’ve accomplished this season, but not satisfied yet. We want to see if we can continue to play the way we have and make another run here in the tournament.”
Southpaw Andrew Showalter will start on the mound for Edgewood against Chagrin Falls. Showalter is 4-1 with a 2.40 ERA, working 35 innings, allowing 30 hits and 12 earned runs, striking out 34 and walking eight.
“Andy was outstanding in his last two outings, beating Jefferson and Perry,” Kray said. “But everyone will be ready to answer the call, should we need to make it.”
The Warriors have seven hitters batting better than .270, led by Michael Schupska (.446), .300-plus hitters Tom Dunham (.361), Greg Motter (.359), Andrew Wilkerson (.349) and Devon Anderson (.300) along with Jesse Long (.288) and Marc Bartone (.273),
Barber believes Edgewood is in a good spot.
“Steve’s group is right there,” he said. “They, like us, have earned the chance to be where we are.”
How about the possibilities of an All-NEC district final on Friday?
“Sounds great to me!” Barber said.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Kray said. “Because that would mean, no matter what, one of us is headed to the regional.”

Division I
Riverside will tangle with Mayfield in a district semifinal on Wednesday at Euclid.
In the other semifinal, Mentor will clash with Brush.
The winners of the two semifinal games will meet in the district championship clash on Thursday.
Meanwhile, coach Ed Humes’ Beavers still have a crucial PAC clash with South remaining on their schedule, which will determine the conference champion.

Raising the bar
With its 16 victories this season, Edgewood has reached a high-water mark for Kray’s tenure at the helm, now in its sixth season.
“We’re very happy to have reached the 16-win level, but we’d love to be able to add a few more to that total,” Kray said. “We’re excited to be where we are, but at the same time, we are also anxious to see how we will match up against Chagrin Falls in the district on Thursday.”

Falcons flying high
In the last week, the Jefferson Falcons have been adding some hardware to their trophy case. Inside a few short days, they beat the Conneaut Spartans twice to capture first, its third consecutive Northeastern Conference baseball championship and second, a Division II sectional championship.
“It feels good to win it, but it’s for these guys (his team) that worked so hard for it,” Barber said. “We have a very rich tradition of baseball in Jefferson and that’s all the way from the T-ball kids to the kids in the high school, to the kids that are playing in college.
“They still write me emails and when they are home from college, they come out to the park to work with the kids. So it’s a kind of a way of life and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
“It’s nice to win the NEC,” pitcher Adam Placek said. “It’s getting a little routine.”
It’s been a good ride for the seniors.
“It was amazing, it was awesome,” catcher Paneto said. “This group of kids just strive for the wins and we mesh together so well. We’ve all been together since Little League.”
“It’s been real good, like Paneto said,” first baseman Volanski said. “And it’s been such a team effort. We feel fortunate to be in the position where we are.”
Shortstop Blair and reserve Mike Winski were just glad to be a part of the Falcons’ season in any way possible.
“I’m just glad to be out here now,” Blair, who missed most of the season with broken bones in his left hand, said. “These guys have been doing great without me, so it’s just good to know that we can win with me in the lineup.”
“It feels great to be part of the team,” Winski said.
For center fielder Morford, it’s ending all too soon.
“I’m already starting to feel bad about the season being almost over,” Morford said.

Scout’s honor
Kray found yet another reason to smile last week in this season of them at Edgewood.
“After practice on Wednesday, I told the kids I was going to scout Lake Catholic and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin, who were playing later,” he said. “I asked if there was anyone who wanted to go for a ride and watch and, lo and behold, four hands went up — my four seniors.”
They would be Schupska, Dunham, Long and Wilkerson.
“It’s just great to see that kind of attitude and desire,” Kray said. “The kids are excited... and they should be.
“They’ve earned the right to be where they are and want to make sure they get everything out of it they can. That’s how good programs are built — the kids take ownership.”

On second thought...
In tournament play, the decision as to which team advances should take place on the diamond.
As simple as that concept seems, it isn’t always the case. After Thursday’s action in the Division II sectional tournament at the Havens Complex, it appeared Harvey, by virtue of a tough 7-5 win over Perry, had earned the right to tangle with second-seeded Edgewood on Friday night.
Such was not the case, however, as it later was discovered a Red Raiders pitcher had hurled one inning more than the rules had allowed in the win over Perry, forcing a forfeiture of the game in favor of the Pirates.
It may have seemed tough for the Pirates to take advantage of the second chance, when they were notified Friday afternoon they were expected to play in Jefferson, but coach Mike Ryan didn’t see his team showing it as the Pirates tangled with the Warriors.
“I don’t know that we had any down feelings about getting to play again today,” Ryan said. “We were focused, I thought, and the kids seemed pretty excited to get another chance. We played hard, the teams are evenly matched, but Edgewood just took advantage of its opportunities better than we did. They were the better team today, it’s that simple.”

Stat attack
Coaches are reminded we will be accepting updated individual and team every Monday throughout the remainder of the season.
Statistics can be reported via fax at 998-7938, email at donmac@suite224.net or telephone at 998-2323 or 1-800-554-6768, extensions 244, 268, 280 or 247.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.