Utica uses early burst, strong pitching to clinch win

Eisenhower and Utica High are separated by less than five miles. They share a football field located just across the street from where the two schools played a non-league baseball game on Thursday. Several players on either side went to junior high school together.

So the 4-2 Chieftain win was that much sweeter for the Utica faithful.

“Some of these guys went to Shelby Junior High,” said Utica head coach Mark Moelig. “They basically split that junior high, they split where they go. So you feel good about these guys being able to beat a team that they know so many guys on. That’s a bonus for sure.”

Eisenhower started strong out of the gate. Their first two hitters, Jimmy McGuire and Brandon Kedrow, drew leadoff walks and were eventually cashed in with a single by Owen Van Dam along with two more walks later in the inning.

But Utica pitcher Jacob Brole notched an inning-ending strikeout to leave the bases loaded and went on to pitch two more solid frames, allowing just one baserunner from that point forward. Jack Miller took over and threw four scoreless innings to hold Eisenhower to just those two runs.

“Jacob Brole is a senior,” Moelig said. “Last year, he’s like a junior feeling it out. … Last year that’s something that he wouldn’t be able to handle. But man, he was able to just settle down, do what he had to do. And he let up two runs, but it wasn’t like, he didn’t let it ruin his day.”

Immediately after falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning, Utica responded by hitting two singles and two doubles to score three first-inning runs of their own to take the lead. A Jorge Martinez RBI sin