The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Comets fall to ’Cats in July tournament
Amherst coach pleased that young players got to play at varsity level
In Day 3 of the first annual Amherst July Baseball Classic, the host Comets fell, 10-1, to St. Ignatius July 28 and dropped to 0-2 in the tournament after a 6-2 loss to Canal Fulton Northwest on July 26.
The game was tied, 0-0, through four innings as both
teams had opportunities to get on the board. St. Ignatius broke through first, using its patience at the plate to score five runs off four walks and only one hit to take a 5-0 lead in the top of the fifth.
“You wouldn’t want to draw it up that way,” St. Ignatius coach Online: See Eric Bonzar’s photo gallery. Brad Ganor said with a laugh.
Amherst got a run back in the home half of the inning when, with two outs, T.J. Staton singled to right field, scoring Christian Velez. Unfortunately for the Comets, that’s about all the offense they could muster.
The Wildcats added five runs in the seventh inning, this time using four hits, including two doubles, and taking advantage of a pair of Amherst errors. A.J. Gaich hit a two-run double for St. Ignatius to get the scoring started.
“The seventh inning I think was a good display of offense,” Ganor said.
Despite losing control a bit in his final inning, Amherst starter
Anthony Berrios (0-1) had a solid outing and had worked himself out of two jams before faltering in the fifth. With the first two runners on in the third inning, Berrios struck out the side to end the inning before doing it again in the fourth.
Through four innings, the incoming senior had given up three hits and stuck out six, but in 4 1/3 innings pitched, Berrios’ final line included four hits, five runs (four earned), four walks and seven strikeouts.
“That kid’s rolling there for four innings,” Ganor said of Berrios. “I think it’s late in the summer and he’s probably thrown a lot of innings . ... He probably just ran out of gas a little bit and we capitalized on that.”
Amherst coach Matt Rositano was pleased with the performance and is encouraged by what he saw from Berrios on the mound.
“I thought Anthony pitched really well,” Rositano said. “That one inning aside, I thought, especially those first four innings, he was lights out. He got himself in that one jam, then struck out the side to get himself out of it and he was around the plate. which is what we’re looking for . ... These are the things he’ll build from when we get into the spring.”
Eric Ritter added two hits and Jake Hart two walks for the Comets, while Amherst native Austin Jones was 3-for-5 with two RBI for St. Ignatius.
For Rositano, this is the first time he’s seeing many of these players compete at the varsity level and in the game vs. St. Ignatius there were as many as four sophomores in the lineup. Though the Comets have lost twice so far this tournament, Rositano said he has learned a lot about what Amherst baseball might look like come spring.
“Bringing them out here and seeing younger guys, ... they see the speed of the game, the intensity of the game, and even though it’s just the summer, it’s something they can build on moving forward, and that’s the big thing I want to get out of these games this week is seeing these younger guys play in a varsity baseball environment,” Rositano said.
“We get to learn things about the kids in game environments and not just practice situations, and that’s what we’re looking for this week. We get to learn things about the kids in game environments and not just practice situations, and that’s what we’re looking for this week.”