Larrea’s defense leads Baylor
Jon Larrea has a love for doing the dirty work behind the dish.
Baylor School’s junior catcher showed off his lightning-quick transfer and thunderous arm to nab a pair of would-be base stealers in the first two innings of Friday’s 14-3 home victory over Ooltewah.
“I remember even since I was little having a knack for being able to be strong with my glove and arm behind the plate. I really love working on throw-downs and take a lot of pride in my defense,” said Larrea, who also laced an RBI single to left-center field as a part of a 2-for-2 night.
“The biggest thing is to get the ball away as fast as I can and put it right where the runner is sliding in,” Larrea explained. “That’s my job. When I throw out a runner, it pumps me up and my team, too.”
The Red Raiders (14-2) put on a spectacle at the plate starting in the second inning when Wake Forest signee Nick Kurtz launched a moonshot over the right-center field fence to make it 2-0.
Showing how dangerous their lineup is, nine-hole hitter
Carson Yates had a two-run homer to left in the third. In the same inning, South Carolina signees Cooper Kinney and Vito Valincius had back-to-back shots that appeared to be every bit of 400 feet. The homer by Valincius even cleared the monstrous batter’s eye in center field, which stands more than 20 feet high.
“A big part of our physicality is putting in constant work in the weight room,” said Kinney, who drove in a game-high four RBIs. “Another part is taking good and aggressive swings
at pitches in the zone. When you find your pitch and drive through it, good things are going to happen. It also helps staying strong and balanced at the plate, and that’s what we all can do.”
Henry Godbout showed off his hustle on an RBI triple in the second, and he finished 4-for-4 as he did everything at the plate but homer. It was Godbout’s second straight four-hit game.
“Henry has moved up to the leadoff spot and really has set the tone for us,” Red Raiders coach Greg Elie said. “He really understands his swing and hits it to all fields. He knows how to extend at-bats. He’s been locked in. It’s a lot of fun to watch these guys all feed off each other and take good approaches.”
Baylor pitchers Jay Dill, Patrick Johnson and Kinney combined for 10 strikeouts.
Ooltewah’s Dominic Mackaluso went 2-for-3 with an RBI double to the gap in left-center on a perfectly executed hit-andrun play in the Owls’ three-run fourth. Henry Mills also doubled for Ooltewah.
On a night when Baylor lit up the scoreboard with four homers, though, it was Larrea’s defensive impact that first sparked the team.
“Jon sets the tone and can change an inning real quick. He did that,” Elie said. “He shut down their run game and gave our pitchers confidence. He’s a brick wall back there and one of the best catchers in the state.”