The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Amherst’s hot start to season continues
Comets’ Solak hits grand slam in first inning; team combined for 12 hits
The Amherst Comets continued their red-hot start to the high school baseball season as they erupted for seven firstinning runs and never looked back in a 15-0 win over boarder rival Lorain.
Amherst improved to 7-1 with the win. Lorain fell to 3-3. The game was played in ideal conditions, under bright sunshine, temperatures in the 70s and a gentle, warm breeze.
A large contingent of fans attending the baseball game coupled with the crowd attending and Amherst softball game, which was played on a near-by field, gave the event a festive air.
The Comets took control early, after they loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the first.
Then, up came senior third baseman Graham Solak, who promptly crushed a grand slam home run off of Lorain starter Nathan Glorioso. The Lorain pitcher worked himself into the jam by hitting two batters and walking a third to load the bases.
“I think he (Glorioso) was just trying to throw a get-me-over fastball and Graham just sat on it and it was four nothing,” Amherst coach Matt Rositano said.
Solak said the moment the ball left his bat he knew it was gone. Surprisingly, it was just the first extrabase hit of the season for the 6-foot, 205-pound senior, who will play baseball at Lake Erie College next season.
“It felt good. It was my first extra-base hit of the year. It’s good to get hot right as we start playing conference games,” said Solak.
Amherst hitters cranked out 12 hits in the five-inning game. Blake Kendall doubled, singled and drove in four runs for the Comets. Alex Jones collected a pair of hits, drove in a pair of runs and scored twice.
Lorain could not recover from Amherst’s early offensive fireworks, as the Titans struggled on defense throughout the game, leaving many easy infield pop flies to turn into adventures for Titan fielders.
“They put up seven in the first inning and it’s had to come back against a good team,” Lorain coach Brad Ternes said. “And our defense didn’t help us out either. We had a few blunders out there that gave them extra atbats,” Ternes said.
This week the Titans will play Shaker twice in Lake Erie League action. Having very little varsity experience on the roster as is, it didn’t help that the players missed a year of development last spring when the coronavirus pandemic shut down the world.
“We’ve got two guys who have varsity experience. We’ve just got to keep getting better as the season goes on,” Ternes said.
The story is the exact opposite at Amherst where the Comets looked primed for deep tournament run as well as a run at a SWC title.
They’ve been playing well of late after a rough patch about a week ago, according to Rositano.
“The last three games we’ve played good baseball. The pitchers are throwing strikes, people are making plays behind them and we are hitting the crap out of the ball,” said Rositano.
This coming week will be a strong test for Amherst as it takes on two of the better teams in the conference in Avon Lake and Berea-Midpark.
“We are going to see where we are at,” said Rositano.
Amherst started senior left-hander Ethan Borgstadt who went the first three innings and didn’t allow a run in three innings, earned the win. Senior ace Ty Weatherspoon pitched a scoreless fourth inning while striking out two.