The Garfield G-Men baseball team’s bats came alive early and often, enjoying their best offensive output of the season to fend off Maplewood 8-7 last Saturday afternoon at the 717 Credit Union Field at Eastwood in Niles.
“The whole game was back-and-forth, we scored runs, they scored runs,” said Coach Michael Paes. “We don’t score any runs; they don’t score any runs. We were right on pace, we both put up some runs and were hitting the ball around yesterday.”
Having been on the wrong end of some tightly-contest games this year, the G-Men (2-5, 0-3) captured their first victory since beating neighborhood rival Cardinal on April 11.
Although Garfield held the lead for most of the game, the Rockets stayed within striking distance as the G-Men’s pitching staff combined to issue seven walks, allowing Maplewood to continually have scoring opportunities.
Holding an 8-6 lead in the top of the seventh frame, the Rockets trimmed Garfield’s lead to 8-7 on a RBI-single to left field by senior center fielder Kenyon Clover but junior left fielder Nate Baczkowski threw out left fielder Cowen Hooper trying to advance to third base for the second out of the inning.
Freshman southpaw Cole Summers-Wade retired the next batter, squashing the Rockets’ rally and sealing the G-Men’s second victory of the season.
As much as the 12-year coach was pleased to see his squad be on the right side of the score in a close game, he was especially thrilled that G-Men batters erupted for eight runs on 10 hits.
“We have seen a lot of strikeouts this year and have not put the ball in play enough and luckily we did that on Saturday,” he added. “I hope it continues coming into this week.”
After answering the Rockets’ first inning run with one in the bottom half of the first, Garfield mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the second, beginning with senior right-hander Jack Niekirk reaching base after being hit by a pitch, stealing second base and scoring on a RBI-single to center field by sophomore shortstop Parker Gill.
Gill stole second base and senior right fielder Carson Norton plated him by delivering a RBI-single to right field; he advanced to third base on a fielding error. Summers-Wade then drove him home as he reached base on a fielding error by Rockets’ freshman shortstop Preston Cooper.
“We just have not seen it this year,” Paes said. “We have not had any clutch hitting and to get three in that second inning was huge. Honestly, it started with the ninth batter.”
As quickly as the G-Men built a 4-1 lead, Maplewood stormed back with two runs in the top of the third and the teams combined to score 14 runs in the first four innings.
Paes acknowledged that Garfield allowed the Rockets to stay close by issuing too many walks, as the G-Men pitchers issued six walks in the first four innings.
He noted that it was a rarity for the pitching staff to allow so many walks but added that untimely errors also hurt the G-Men, which has been a recurring theme this season.
According to Paes, Garfield has not made many errors, but it has always seemed to occur in some unfavorable spots.
“It is going to be with two outs and two guys on or something that extends the inning and scores a run We have had some untimely errors this year, but I will say that pitching-wise, walks have not been our problem,” he said.
After Summers-Wade took the mound in the fifth inning, he quieted Maplewood’s offense, surrendering only one run on four hits, one walk and struck out six batters over three innings of relief work.
Although the G-Men’s offense went silent in the final three innings, the Garfield southpaw stemmed the tide.
“He did a great job,” said Paes. “His curveball was working; he was hitting his spots every time I called it. He is a freshman. To be able to go out there and do that and have success where some guys struggled with the walks and gave up some hits — it seemed like everyone was scoring every inning. He came in and shut them down and it was exactly what we needed.”
Following a home-and-road series against Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Newton Falls on Monday and Tuesday, a road duel against Portage County rival Mogadore on Wednesday, the G-Men will welcome neighborhood foe Crestwood to Garrettsville on Friday at 5 p.m. and then hit the road to face Berkshire on Saturday afternoon in Burton at noon.
