The Berkshire Badgers’ baseball team understands the importance of building an early lead in any game. The Badgers found themselves on wrong side of the score, falling behind early to Chagrin Valley Conference foe Perry and lost 7-2 in a conference crossover game, ending their winning streak at four games last Friday in Burton.
“I actually took a lot of positives out of Friday,” said Coach Nick Burzanko. “The kids played well. Our pitching staff threw a lot of strikes and our defense played well outside of that seventh inning.”
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the third inning, Berkshire (9-4, 6-0) ran into trouble when the first two Pirate batters reached base on a leadoff walk and a fielding error on a bunt. Sophomore Sam Barcickoski retired the next two batters and was one out away from escaping the inning but could not put away Perry junior catcher Owen McKoon, who clobbered a three-run home run to center field, pushing the Pirates ahead 4-0.
“We put ourselves in that situation because we allowed the leadoff guy to get on and then they bunted, Sam made an error on the bunt,” noted the five-year coach. “That was an extra out we gave them and then we had to pitch to that guy and we made a mistake and he made us pay for it.”
The Badgers responded in the bottom of the fourth, plating two runs on three hits sparked by an infield single by senior pitcher Jaden Cartwright and a single to left field by senior designated hitter Louis Filby. Senior center fielder Jack Hastings reached base on a bunt. And Cartwright scored on a throwing error by the Pirates’ senior pitcher Aiden Bowman with Filby advancing to third base, trimming the lead to 4-1. Junior third baseman Abram Southern then halved Perry’s lead to 4-2 when he hit a sacrifice fly to left field.
After Berkshire’s big fourth inning, Perry stifled the Badgers’ bats for the rest of the game as sophomore Trent Taylor delivered a strong relief outing by throwing 2.2 innings without allowing a run, surrendering only one hit and one walk while striking out two batters.
Burzanko acknowledged that his team could have had better at-bats throughout the game.
“He came in and threw hard and we spotted some pitches up and we put ourselves in in some bad at-bats,” he added. “We got behind in the count and then you are fighting for your life a little bit and we did not have enough disciplined at-bats.”
Perry extended its lead to 5-2 in the fifth inning when senior left fielder Jason Pentek hit a RBI-single to center field , 2 and the Pirates jumped on a pair of Berkshire fielding errors in the seventh inning, capped off by a two-run single by junior center field Luke Sivon, pushing the lead to 7-2.
Despite the loss, Burzanko said it was an important game for the Badgers to have on their non-conference schedule because Perry belongs to the same district as they do in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III postseason.
“It gives us a measuring point of where we are at later in the year and what we need to work on as things move forward,” he said. “It is a team I obviously would like to see in the tournament because it means we are making a deep run in the playoffs.”
Although the Badgers fell short to Perry, they still have four more CVC Valley Division games to play as they remain in first place in the league with an undefeated conference record.
Having not won a league championship since the 2012 campaign, Burzanko said the Badgers are eager to finally end a 10-year drought.
“Last year we had an opportunity late in the year to win and we did not beat Kirtland at their place, and it ultimately put us out of the race because we split with Edgewood as well but right now we are sitting in the driver’s seat and our guys are extremely excited for the opportunity,” Butrzanko added.
Berkshire is competing with a blend of experience this season, having only five seniors and a promising group of underclassmen who have been instantly contributing, including freshmen infielder Oliver Miller and catcher Bear Masink, who has filled in admirably as the back-up catcher behind starting junior Patrick Brancel.
“We have a good mix of freshmen all of the way to the seniors and the guys get along and they compete well together and joke around and keep it loose,” noted Burzanko. “There is nobody that is really ever too hard on themselves.”
Berkshire suffered its first conference loss when CVC Valley Division foe Kirtland defeated it 6-3 on Monday, dropping its record to 9-5 (6-1).
Following home games against CVC Valley Division rival Kirtland on Tuesday and conference for Harvey on Wednesday, and a road game against Geauga County rival Kenston on Thursday, the Badgers will face Gilmour at Figgie Field at Sharnsky Stadium on Friday in Gates Mills at 5 p.m.
