The break in the double header was a hard one for the Wolverines baseball team.
West Geauga had just given up five runs to Euclid in the first game’s fourth and fifth innings, losing its eighth straight game in an 0-8 season.
Coach Phil Byron knew this team was better than that. The errors. The lack of offense. He dedicated practice to batting tees and swings.
But instead of wallowing in all that had gone wrong, patience paid off. West Geauga had 12 hits and 15 runs in the second game — nine in the first two innings — and won it 15-4.
Now, it’s time to build.
“We’re a young team, but I think we can get on a hot streak,” said senior JC Mazzurco, the team’s top pitcher. “If I see a mistake, I have to tell someone about them, and help them. Not yell at them, but tell them what they did wrong.”
A wrist injury means Mazzurco will only pitch this season, not hit or run the bases. He’s disappointed, but it could have been worse.
“Right now, this game is all mental, and we don’t have the confidence we need,” said Tim Snyder, the team’s senior shortstop. “I need to make sure everyone’s focus is on the game and nothing else.”
As the players worked around the auxiliary gym at West Geauga High School, a heavy rain fell outside.
West Geauga has benefitted from new turf at Howell Field, but has yet to play a home game. A spring break trip to Disney yielded five losses, albeit to stiff competition. Back-to-back losses to Perry, 5-4 and 4-2, made for a tough start to the Chagrin Valley Conference schedule.
“The competition in Florida was tough, but we learned a lot from it,” said Andrew Cassese, another senior. “It was a good way to experience (that competition).” The seniors need to keep their attitudes up, he added.
Gino Bertolone was on the mound in the Wolverines’ win over Euclid, scattering six hits over five innings and striking out five.
“We just need to tweak a couple of things, and we’ll win a couple of games,” Bertolone had said the day before. “More than a couple. Hopefully more than last year.”
Bertolone added three hits and two runs in the win.
Mike Bielek is the team’s leadoff hitter in CF. Cassese hits second; Snyder third; and Charlie Koach is the cleanup hitter.
“He’s fun to watch play,” Byron said of Koach, a sophomore. “That smile on his face never goes away. And he just goes up there and hits the crap out of the baseball. You can’t teach what he does.”
Koach is hitting .348 this year with a team-high seven runs scored.
Drake Force and Bertolone round out the team’s top six hitters. Kory Clark, Matt Bobango and Andrew Velotta hit 7-8-9.
Mazzurco, Snyder and Bertolone are three of the team’s top starting pitchers. Tony Azusenis also pitches, and Bobango is the team’s top reliever.
Byron expects Bobango to pitch in almost every game a starter doesn’t finish.
If the weather holds, West Geauga was slated to take on Kenston, Kirtland, Harvey and Wickliffe this week.
“Let’s hope we can get some things going in the right direction in the next few weeks,” Byron wrote in an email Monday morning.