The Cardinal Huskies’ baseball team has been searching for a lot of answers this season, including where to find offense. That question remained unanswered when the Huskies were routed by Chagrin Valley Conference foe Perry 16-2 in five innings in a crossover game last Thursday in Lake County.
“We struggled hitting the baseball,” said Coach Dan Wolf. “We made a few errors the other day, but we are just having trouble putting the ball in play and scoring runs.”
On Thursday, Cardinal was within striking distance after the first two innings, only trailing 1-0, until the Pirates erupted for a nine-run third inning to assume control of the game.
Sophomore right-hander Evan Jones loaded the bases on a base hit and two walks to start the inning and the Huskies’ troubles were compounded when senior shortstop Matt Hissa committed a fielding error on a ground ball from senior third baseman Cade Henderson, allowing each runner to advance for Perry to double its lead to 2-0.
Sophomore catcher Michael Niedzweicki delivered a two-run single to left field and Perry added five more runs in the inning on three base hits and two walks, with two of the hits going for extra bases.
According to the second-year coach, walks were once again the undoing of the Huskies’ pitching staff, as Cardinal pitchers combined to issue six walks in the game.
“We have struggled hitting the baseball and I have been reminding all of our pitchers that we can’t catch ball four,” he added. “We can’t field ball four if that makes any sense, but we can catch a fly ball and can field a ground ball, but you can’t put a good defense on walks.”
Although the Huskies only graduated four seniors last year, three of the graduating players formed the strength of Cardinal’s pitching staff, combining to record eight of the Huskies’ 11 victories.
Wolf said that that Cardinal did return with some experience on the mound in seniors Carter Tucker, Zach Caldwell and Jones but so far, command has been the Huskies’ pitchers greatest challenge in a challenging season.
After Perry increased its lead to 10-0 after the third inning, it added six more runs in the fourth frame and despite the Huskies’ offense rallying for two runs in the top of the fifth, the Pirates triggered the mercy rule by having a lead greater than 10 runs after the fifth inning.
Defensive lapses also contributed to the two big innings as Cardinal committed four fielding errors in the game. Despite boasting a team with nine seniors, Wolf noted that the Huskies have allowed the little mistakes to pile up and ultimately cost them runs.
“We have the talent and the leadership to compete in every game, we do have some leaders,” he said. “Sometimes we just wait for the mistake to happen and then it kind of falls apart. We have to keep playing, keep trying and keep working hard.”
In addition to a season filled with inconsistency, Wolf acknowledged that the Huskies’ depth has also been a glaring issue.
“We don’t have a freshmen team or junior varsity team, last year we played four or five junior varsity games, but you had varsity play in those games because we don’t have the numbers,” he noted.
Wolf said that despite having a few freshmen on this year’s squad, only one freshman has received playing time with the remaining freshmen toiling on the bench and lacking the playing time necessary to properly develop their skills.
He also said that although the Huskies’ depth has been thin, there is a lot of promise for improving the team’s depth as there are an abundance of junior high students rising through the middle school level to add numbers to the Cardinal baseball program. Wolf estimated in in two years, the Huskies would field enough players to at least form a junior varsity team.
Following home games against Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division foe Wickliffe on Tuesday and Bristol on Wednesday, and a road duel against Conneaut on Thursday, Cardinal will return to action when it hosts CVC Valley Division rival Berkshire at Paul Verno Field on Monday in Middlefield at 5 p.m.
