001Good afternoon, Clocker fans, and welcome to another exciting edition of Ashlin High School baseball. Today the Ashlin Clockers are taking on the Bellingham Blackhawks over at Ashlin High School and we're getting set up and uh they're going to schedule for a four o'clock start time. We'll see how close they get to that and we'll be ready to go. Stay tuned. Test test test. Hello. Hi. Hi. Testing. Hello. Testical audio. Okay. Thank you. Capture three. Capture three. Capture three. Capture three. Capture three. Capture three. You still got to bring it. Is that CG? Yeah, there's not a whole bas The outside that Yeah. Yeah. That's We're live. Quick check. Check check. You're good. Just want to turn the volume down a little bit. You good? How's that sound? You okay? That's Yeah. Can be good without
002being too loud and obnoxious. Yeah. Does that affect the uh sound input? The volume that's coming through the head. Okay. Okay. Good to go. See, two minutes before four. So, good afternoon everyone and welcome to Ashlin High School varsity baseball here on WACA TV, your exclusive home for Ashlin High School sports. Today's Tri Valley baseball matchup features your Ashlin Hawkers taking on the Bellingham Blackhawks. I'm George Hubin bringing you tonight's action from the Ashlin High School baseball field adjacent to Ashlin High School and Ashlin Mass as you'd expect. And I'm here with the one and only John Laro. Good afternoon, George. It's good to be here with you. Great to be here, too. I think the last game we had, we were frozen. Slightly different weather conditions. Uh yeah, it was overcast. I can't believe
003it was much more than 35 degrees, probably a little bit less with the windchill, but today beautiful uh mid70s, nice cool breeze. Uh um just the sky dotted with couple of clouds and and we're we're in for a good day of baseball, I believe. So, we're midway through the high school baseball season and after 11 games, the Clockers now stand at four wins and seven losses. As of Tuesday, the Clockers were ranked number 52 out of 71 teams in the MIAA Division 3 power rankings. Only the top 32 teams make it into the playoffs. So, the Clockers have a lot of work to do to make it in there uh for the rest of the season. See, we're underway here, but the Bellingham Blackhawks who were facing now has a record of one win and
004eight losses and are ranked number 42 in the MIAA Division 4 power rankings as of Tuesday. Um Ashlin is defin desperately looking for a win today and they're facing a struggling Division 4 team which hopefully will bold well for the Clockers. That's a drop thread strike and they get a throw down to first uh for the first out. That was uh the froze a little bit high. It was a good job getting back on the base. Yeah. Yeah. Got away a little bit there, George. So, uh yeah, had to dig the throw on the outside of the line there. Yep. All right. Number two batter for Bellingham up. We have a We have Ryan Ryan Viscardi. He's a He's a center fielder. Pitching for Ashlin is Jared Grun. Yeah, Grun. up a lot of innings
005for Ashlin. Gets a a ground out uh from uh 53 there. Easy play there for Deon O'Brien to get it over to uh looks like Chris Baratica at first base. Yes. Yeah. Grumb uh curves change ups. He's got mixes a fast ball in, but he's got a lot of movement on this ball, doesn't he? He does. Um Yep. good uh you know fast ball off speed uh selection uh when he's he makes good selection when he's hitting this hitting this strike zone he like I said he eats up a lot of innings for him follow back out of play balls followed out of play down the first baseline basically get lost in a thick woods here at the high school baseball field as the offer strike. Two strikes go behind the back. Yep. Another one
006in the dirt there, George. Yeah. his hockey goalie practice. Yeah. Yeah. Not that he plays goalie or hockey. No, that's He's an athlete though. Um we talked about that last game. You know, the number of guys on this team who are playing more than one sport and they bring that athleticism to the baseball field. Yeah, Luke Luke uh part of the football team suffered an injury unfortunately through the season but he was able to come back for the last few games for football. I don't believe he did. Um it was a question of whether he'd be able to come back um in time for the baseball season. U I believe there was question of you know still feeling it um in the collarbone there in the shoulder um but uh he was able to fight
007through that first few games and I think he's you know more or less on in a groove here now at this age a lot of kids just want to come back and play but you know they don't think about their long-term health so I think it's I'd rather er on the side of making sure you're completely 100% healthy versus trying to trying to push it for uh Get him there. That was a good throw over. Yeah, it's called safe. Jared also he has a good move to first base. I think he's uh you know for a right-handed pitcher, I think he does as good as anybody I've seen on the team. Yeah, a good shot right to Michael Shriber short stop. Takes it himself. There we go. That's uh bottom of the first inning. No,
008no. Uh, no runs. Still zero to zero as we go to the bottom of the uh the first. So, let me So, um, while we have a little break here, John. Sure. Um, so what's your take on the clocker season so far? Yeah, I mean the last we we spoke George um back during the drafting game that was um I think their first one of the season, you know, so they started off 0 and three and since then um a decent 500 um record since then. You know, they're now four and seven. I I know speaking with coach earlier, that's one of the things um that he talked about is how they they've kind of turned things around or they're in in the process of turning the corner. They really like to get this one
009today and um evidence that they've got the train um rolling and going in the right direction. So, um definitely um moved moved a couple of guys around. Um still trying things here and there that I can see. Um I think guys are starting to fall into position in terms of where they'll expect to play. Um where coach is starting to see them in their um I guess position of highest value or guys who are of highest value in this specific position. So, um yeah, we're in for we're in for a good one um here today to see how that plays out um and see how the um the coaching strategy plays out. Definitely. Yeah. A lot of times, especially for this team, I think for all teams, there wasn't a lot of time between kind
010of first practice and first game and some of the kids are, you know, coming off of other where some of the kids are in there practicing hitting and baseball is their sport. They don't do a winter sport. Yeah. So to get kind of everybody on the same page and get, you know, get all the rust off and it's not to get their heads in baseball mode depending upon how many kids you have in your team that are doing winter sports. It could be harder or or easier to get things going. So hopefully um that's where we stand now. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's kind of in the groove. um they've they've taken enough repetitions that that familiarity with with reading pictures, that familiarity with uh reading ground balls or or fly balls, uh you know, coming in
011and out of the season, you know, you take for granted as a fan of of the game of baseball that all these guys are are it's just second nature to them. You know, it's not necessarily at this level like you say, if they're coming off a season playing basketball, playing hockey, it's not it's not always it takes some breaking in. Takes some breaking in each season. Yeah. Chris at the leading off here. Yeah. Chris is u um probably their top hitter and um he's going against uh their the Hawks best pitcher here, Payton Young. Um he's up there in in the um Tri Valley League in terms of RA in terms of uh strikeouts. He's talking with coach TJ um Japone. He's um he's their top guy. Yeah, I was um I was looking um
012at some of the stats for Tri Valley and you believe it or not, Chris Baratica leads the strikeouts with 37 strikeouts. Um and Payton Young is actually number two with 36. He's got one less than uh than Bradica. In fact, because Brad's not pitching today, he has a chance to move ahead of him here. Yep. And Chris is at bat. He's gonna make sure that doesn't happen. Oh, it just happened to him. Now they're tied. Unfortunately. Oh jeez. I guess I shouldn't have said anything. I kind of jinxed the whole situation. That's okay. Chris will want that one back. Um uh you know, he's seen him now, so we'll see his second time through uh how that how that matchup plays out. Yeah. Um I think we've got a We got we got one guy
013on the roster card here and another guy in the box. This looks like Oliver Laro um at the plate. Swinging early in the count there. Yeah, aggressive swing. Yeah, seems like he he throws some heat. One. Ball's down in the dirt. Just a good transition there by that uh shorts stop. Yeah. Very good play there by uh Sam Elliott. No, not Sam Elliott. Brock Brock Barry. Brock Barry. Yeah. Yeah. Brock Barry is another one of uh their better players bring pretty high in batting average. And now it looks like Devin O'Brien is at Yeah. And he gets a good piece here. George piece but right at the right at the left fieldielder. I thought that was that was ball was sinking fast and it just didn't sink fast enough. Nope. Nope. Good contact there. And
014you know, I think that um the last time um we did a game, George, it seems like uh kind of repetitive or at least the approach here today is a little bit of the same by coach Messer. He's got um couple of those guys swinging early in the count and really attacking the ball. So, we'll see if that produces offense here today. Yeah, the clockers seem to be I look up the stats, but they seem like they're making good contact. Not not a lot of strikeouts. Um, but a lot of good, you know, getting getting the bat in the ball. Unfortunately, a lot of fly balls or, you know, ground balls running right right to the position players. But, you know, first thing you got to do is get the ball in play. Yes. So,
015so, you know, at least that's happening. Yeah. That's what we've seen, you know, game. some of their their top guys. They're still, you know, top in, I guess, uh, some of the efficiency or production stats offensively. Um, maybe just not on a batting average. Okay. Uh, percentage-wise, George. Um, they are hitting the ball, so maybe they're getting on base uh, with an error field's choice. Um, you know, they're moving guys moving guys along, but a lot of balls. Yep. Um just um not finding the grass in the outfield or not getting through the infield. Yep. Yeah. But certainly uh improving from the first couple of games. Yep. All right. Go top of the second inning. Yeah. This is the short stop. Brock Barry just uh just made the um play to finish the uh bottom
016of the first there. That ball's low. That's a foul. One ball, two strikes here. Berry just outside. Good pick there by the catcher loop O'Brien. Two and two. Just up. Just up. Luke Luke is trying to frame it. Yep. Yeah. He had me fooled. It's on the ground right to Chris Bara. one out here. Yep. That and that's what um Grunbum will get you, you know, with the um with the the those breaking balls um low in the in the zone. Uh he'll he'll get balls in the in the dirt that you can get over to first base there for the out. So, foul tip there. hit somebody. I don't know who that went right back off of Luke or if that that's off the umpire there. Yeah, I think he's uh Yeah, I think
017it's off the umpire. He's just kind of walked off a little bit and bat is Nicholas Fantini. Gets a piece of it. Is that going to drop? That's a diving catch right there. What a play. That was a great catch by Unbelievable. That's Ian. And uh he's made a few catches here this year, George, that have been um you know, like not to rank the whole team or, you know, but he's he's one of their top outfielders. The way he's played this year, um he's made some spectacular catches like that coming in diving. um some over the shoulder um you know going back o over the opposite shoulder that we've seen when watching the game Georgia if you recall and so um that's just a great play and I at bat now he's quickly down
0180 and2 that's outside for a That ball's ripped. That's in the gap. Let's see who can get here. Wow, that's a great play. Who's that? That was a great catch. That was I think that was that Ollie Laro kid. Never heard of him. Um yeah, so that's uh that's both good communication there. So, um, if you're if you're Bellingham, those those are just bad breaks to some of the, you know, better outfielders out in the field who track the ball well. Obviously, good communication right there, too, to, uh, make sure they're not, uh, running as full steam right into each other. Yeah, that that that usually doesn't end well. Yes. One, I thought I'd share, you know, there I was uh, looking up some stats. Yeah. um max preps and y interestingly uh Chris Bradica
019up to a few minutes ago led the league the Tri Valley League in in strikeouts. Yeah. Uh with 37. Now Payton Young I think has 37. I don't know if you got another one. Yeah. And there's another there's another uh pitcher on Bellingham that actually is number 11 in strikeouts. So they got a couple of um you know good pitchers there. Brad's also ranked number 17 in RA. the 2.66 erra. Yeah. Um then when you look on the other side when it comes to batting average, uh the top Ashlin player again is Chris Brado who's ranked number 22. He's batting 333. Yeah. Uh Bellingham has a player that Brock Bry who was you mentioned earlier. Y um he's also ranked number 22 with a 333 batting average. Yeah. What I thought was interesting is in
020Tri Valley Yeah. there's 11 kids that are batting over 400. Wow. And there's one a kid from Norwood who's batting 577. Yeah. Yeah. Well, um, it goes to some of the stuff that we were talking about before the game with coach, and I don't know if, um, either of the coaches ascribed to it, but, you know, smaller schools playing in in a division with bigger schools, you know, being, um, you know, competing against the bigger schools. And, uh, you know, that's one stat you can tell that there's some big there's some big players out there that that these guys have to go up against, um, two, three times a week. So, um it's it's um it's one of the reasons, you know, uh word that's coming out of, you know, both sides of of of
021uh both dugouts uh um coaches is is the compete level. You know, we're going to have to compete to to um do well today and and that's how the their players are measured. So, it's interesting. You know, the Tri Valley League is a, you know, league of schools in the area, but it kind of overlaps the divisions and divisions are based on, you know, school size and and things, you know, records and things like that. And yeah, you can be in division three and play teams in division two, division one, division four. Yep. Um or worse, you could be in division four and have to play division one, two, and three teams. Yeah. If they happen to be in tri I don't think in Tri Valley has any division one baseball. I don't think they
022do. I know in hockey I think there are, but Yeah. All right, Michael Shriber at bat. Um, two balls, one strike. Yeah. Um, hard foul ball there. Another one of the underassman for coach Messer and um and he's actually moved into the four hole for today. He's usually up second or third. Um yeah, I think Michael Shribe has been playing great ball uh behind the plate and on the field. Yeah. And that and that ball gets through. Hard hit ground ball to the shortstop, but you know, bouncing. It just got over his glove. Yep. That's a tough hop. Um that's a tough hop to handle right there. And um you know, I don't I don't know if you can you can put on the shortstop on that one. That's a that's a hard hit driven
023ball like you say and and Michael can can put um some pepper on the ball that he's probably um top two three in in offensive statistic for for the team because he is able to uh um make really good contact with the ball. So we got Michael Shriber on first. It looks like Nolan Soderberg. Yep. He's at bat. He took the took the first strike. It's hard for a ball. I think uh the game on Monday, I think Nolan had like three hits in the game. Had a very good game. Yeah. Yeah. One and one. A big lead there on first. And there he goes looking for the back pick. you know, he comes back. I'm surprised he didn't get the throw there. Yeah, before the Yeah, either way, uh, you know, before the pitch
024or or from the catcher. Um, I mean, he's got a real healthy lead over there. One ball, two strikes. Balls on the ground. That's a double play ball. Yeah, that's in time. That's in. That was just in time. Yeah. Right. Um just to the left of the shorts stop. So he's moving towards second. Um a quick flip and and uh Eric Johnston able to get it over to first to uh um for the double play to Fontanny. Yep. Fantini. Yeah. The depth is perceive, you know, deceiving from where we're where we're standing. I thought the shorts stop was closer to the bag, was going to touch and throw it over, but apparently he was further away than it looks here. Yeah. Yeah. Just hide. Ian go one-on-one. Did he call him safe there, George, at
025at first? I guess he did. Maybe he had. He beat that out. Surprising. Um, we're So, where we're located is uh right down the right field line on the outside of the fence and looking right down at it. So you can kind of see that um you know a good both um Brock Barry and and Eric Johnson really good transition ball from the glove and and to throw and I'd have put money that he had him there at first at least. Yeah. Followed back. Two balls, two strikes. throw to first. Yeah. Young uh mixing up the time he's taking trying to keep Soderberg guessing over there on first base. Yeah. See taking a slightly uh not quite the lead that uh Triber had. Yeah. Is that in play? That's a way up in the air.
026Third baseman's under that. Drops it. He dropped it. Did he drop it on transition? It look I would say not. And um he's not he's not calling the out. So and it looks like it's in foul play when he touches it. So yeah. Um again, we're in a little bit of a tough uh location to see that play. Um but it but it's clear glad he was out of uh he was in foul territory when he when he attempted to make that catch. That was very lucky. Coming at us here. This one's for you. Right into left right field. It's kind of an easy easy catch. Not not you don't have to move too much to get under that ball. No. No. Good track by there by uh Douglas Walton. Two away now. Look like
027Ian was under a lot of those pitches there on that at bat. Aiden Con here at bat. Aiden's a senior. Aiden's playing right field there uh for them today. Strike. Yeah, he waves through that one. A hit and run going on on there, but it's a foul. Y got himself up to speed. Yep. I I wouldn't want to be the second baseman that stands in front of him when when that ball's coming down, you know. Um talking with um coach Chapony. Um he's he's got a young crew here and um some of them are um giving up a little bit of size here to uh you know, the seniors on the Ashlin team. So yeah, you don't want to be on the wrong side of that that play. that ball's in the air. Highf fly
028ball. First baseman. Oh, that ball is missed in the glove of the second baseman who ran over to try to get it. Boy, that's a tough play. Then it popped out of his glove. Yep, George. You know, it's that is probably one of the, you know, believe it or not, that's not a deep shot and it's not a necessarily very high shot either, but it's one of the toughest plays, especially at this level to defend. You know, you know, typically you want to um you want to uh a first baseman to defer to the to the second baseman and that second baseman calling it all the way. And it looked like um you had uh Nick Fontini there kind of tracking the ball a little bit and and backed out of the way a little
029bit late such that uh Eric had to make a diving play and and not able to to grip the ball. Yeah. Second baseman had to come over, you know, if it's was it 90 feet between the bases? Uh yes. Yeah. You know, like 70. Yep. 70 feet. uh ran ran over where I think the first you know the first baseman had to go backwards so he was also in a very tough angle. Yeah. Yeah. And obviously a long way for Douglas Walton to come from uh right right field. So um you know you had uh Nolan Soderberg kind of pinching the middle infielders in to cover that second base. So to your point a long way to travel. Let's see if Ashley Yeah. kind of not really two errors, but we have the drop ball,
030the drop foul ball on third base, but that ended up being an out, and then we just had a drop fly ball there. Yeah. Yeah. These are the things that uh Ashley has to take advantage of. Finn Connory up at bat. I think he's two and0. Quickly ahead on the count now. We can be very selective. No, that's one of one on the count. Hard to ball to second base, but right to right to first base. That's is the third out. Bottom of the second, score still 0. Yep. Eric uh redeemed himself there with a good good uh play on a high driven ball. Yeah. So, you had a chance to talk also to coach Messer before the game. Yeah. Um, you know, some of his thoughts on the season and how it's progressing and
031where they stand and what they need to do. What were some of the interesting things he uh Yep. he mentioned there. Yeah, I think you know, we we touched on it a little bit, George, is um you kind of getting the train rolling and getting getting the reps so that um um kind of seeing balls through offensively and and eliminating some of the errors. Um, and having a compete mindset, which um, you know, it's maybe a little bit cliche, but like we like we talked about coming against some of the teams in this league. Um, you know, maybe you don't have the roster that's going to overpower a guy. I mean, you've got a couple of good pitches here, but it's not, you know, deep all the way through the bullpen if if if you
032know what I mean. Yeah. So, um, you know, on the on the defensive play plays we've seen so far in the outfield, um, you know, the first two innings or, um, the the base running that, um, you know, we're seeing out of, um, displayed there with Shriber and and Soderberg. Um, you know, they've got to compete. Find ways each play to to to make each play a chance to um get an out. Make each play a chance to move a guy at least one base. And um you stay on that for um for for 21 um well, you know, 21 outs um you know, through the through the seven inning game, then you give yourself a chance. One of the things I've noticed from the first few games that that there's a market improvement is
033the uh reduction in errors. This here's a hard hit ball into center field line drive over um second baseman's head. That's Finn Connory over there. Um no chance to get that unless he was, you know, 67. Yeah. No. So we have a leadoff single here with no outs. Yep. pulls back the bunt there. Pitch low in the dirt. Ball one. Yeah, good good strong hit there by uh the second baseman, Eric Johnson. Now we have Connor Riley at bat. Jared Grumbom checks the runner over there at first. One ball, no strikes. That's in there for a strike. Got a piece of it. Yep. He went laid down a bunt, but one went foul very quickly. Looks like it would have been a nice bunt if uh Yeah. Yeah. Well, probably a good uh decision there
034by Luke to get to it quickly and and pick it up um before it came back fair. One ball, two strikes won't be That's a good off pitch and he fools him. Yeah. Strike three. That's a good out. Um I mean, you you got to get that out out of the um nine-hole hitter there. Now we're back to top of the order. Y Doug Walton at about righty. Ball's down. Gets by was very low. Caught by Luke O'Brien back there which allows Johnson to advance to second base. Yeah, tough ball as a catcher right there, George. Um, you know, a lot of guys you're you're looking to get you as as a as a catcher. You're looking to get your your thumb underneath the ball there, but you know, you get into a position where
035you're somewhat in between where they're going to be able to get under it. You know, do I have to move the body over, turn the club over, and get a block on it and uh just gets away from them. Especially, you know, those breaking balls. If if it's got a good break on it, sometimes it's hard to know just exactly where it's going to be. Yeah, that ball's hard hit on the ground. Nice play by Michael Shriber to get the out of first base, but the runner advances to third. So, good job by the hitter to get the runner over to third base, but two outs. Good range there by Shrivever. Um, good good pickup, good transition, tough play to make. Another ball on the ground here. And that's the uh that's the um that's
036the stuff that that Jared Grunbomb will get you there, George. You know, low pitches in the zone, you know, they're not overly powerful. They they entice the batter into into a swing and and he he gets him to roll over to that third baseman there. Yeah. And then nice play by Devin O'Brien. Just took the ball up, you know, took a couple of steps, took his time, knew he had time to get the ball and threw a strike to first base. Absolutely. got the out. You not worried about obviously not worried about the the guy on third. Oh, that's the end of three innings. Yep. And we're still zero zero. This could come down to, you know, a one-run game or Yeah. maybe when the starting pitchers jump out of Yep. if they face different
037uh different pitchers. We'll see. But so far, it's been a a pitcher game. Yep. Uh Ashlin put some uh runners on last innings. So you've got um Payton Young who's at 30 pitches now. Um that's not a bad pace. Um so we could see him for a few innings. We could see him for a few innings. He's back out there on the mound as the uh as the Hawks warm up in the field. But John, what do you So I I you know, we have the um the Blackhawk baseball roster in front of us and we have uh three captains on the team. Yeah. I don't think Ashlin is named captains. Yeah. Uh how do you I know you You coach hockey, you've coached baseball. Is does that matter? Well, um you know, I think
038what Ashlin has done is they've got a couple of seniors as captain, a couple of juniors as captain, and you know, you like to maybe get a couple of guys in there, George. And you like to get a couple of guys who are not just going to be, you know, you do need, you know, I would say maybe like an alpha guy whose voice is going to carry, but you also need a couple of guys, you know, baseball guys who can, you know, the way they take the field, the way they um come to the plate with a purpose. you know, they're able to lead with lead by example and lead by the play and and and lead with the character, the culture that the um the coach is trying to, you know, instill in
039the players, instill in the club. So, um I think it is important to to have a captain, but um not just because you have a it's it's not whether you have a C on your jersey, you know, it doesn't necessarily mean that you that dictates whether you are or you are not a leader on the team, if you know what I mean, right? Anybody can step off that. Exactly. Exactly. And you can Yeah. Um, and you know, to Ashlin's benefit, you've got a lot of everyday players who are not necessarily, you know, that senior big dog, you know, captain type you would think of that these guys come out day in and day out. And they do that. They display the right way to go about the game, the right approach uh, at the plate,
040the right approach on the mound. And um so I think that's that's starting to play starting to play out through the season, you know, in parlays our discussion of how this team has gone from 0 for three now and you know um 500 in the last eight games. So yeah. Yep. So got Luke O'Brien at bat, the catcher. He's uh two and two now to Luke. And that's strike three. One down here at the bottom of the third inning and back to the top of the order with uh Chris Bratica struck out his first hem up. Think he's looking to uh get even here. gets the bat on it for a foul back over the fence. Yeah, first pitch swing in there, George. Um, so we'll see how this goes. Is a little bit more
041patient his first at bat and that's that's one of his strengths is being able to work a picture, but he's also the ability to be aggressive and um doesn't like that one on the inside corner. He's going to let it go, but he's going to let it go. Strike two. 0 and two. Another foul. Off speed there. He's ahead of it. That ball's high. You talk about, you know, the cat and mouse game between the pitcher and the and the batter. A lot of pitchers are very focused on first pitch strike. You know, it's a huge stat. Um, and if you get the batter in there looking to hit early, you know, the pitcher, generally speaking, wants to get that first pitch strike. So, it kind of makes sense to be on the attack. Yep.
042Um and he grooves, you know, just seeing um Payton through these first two and a half innings. That ball is well hit into right field. Right back down here to W. He's going to try for two. He's got two. I think he's going to have it. He's in there sliding head first. Yeah, he gets it. Yep. That's a mistake that uh Payton probably wants back. you know, he was giving him uh you know, breaking balls um in the zone and fast balls out of the zone and he he kind of grooved on there and uh Chris just got got all of it right over the first baseman's head and able to uh hustle double there. And it was far enough over into the right field corner right in front of us. The uh right fielder
043really had to move over quite a bit to get to that ball. Yeah, almost to us, George. Almost to, you know, dead air in the corner. for Douglas Walton hustling over to make it but not in time. I think he was kind of going in the wrong direction. It was hard for him to turn around and get that ball all the way back to second base. So, it's a nice double there by Chris Bratica. We get Oi Laro up at the plate. Yeah, one on man in scoring position. Hard driven ball right there. Right up the middle. That's going to get Chris around third. He's going to hold up there. Hold up a third. Nice single by Ollie Laro. Yep. moves the guy over. Ashlin's in in play here now. Runners at the corners, so
044let's see what we can do. Only one out. Yep. Oh, he's pretty quick. You expect a steel steel to be on here? We'll see what happens. Um he does have a healthy lead. Um, I think coach will will make the call. Deon O'Brien up at bat takes takes the first pitch for a ball. You know, I think they'll at least try to minimize the opportunity for a double play. I mean, if we can get a ball in play here, George, you would expect Bratica to be able to score. There goes Ollie. Deon's under it. Hit ball. Got the right fielder tracking in. And he just he played that ball so well that he slowed down, made sure as he caught it, he had forward momentum to be able to make that throw. I mean, that
045that was that was a smart play. Yep. Tough one. Hitting run right there into a kind of a line drive fly out there to left field. But um um another aggressive call there by Coach Messer. Let's see if they let him take second here. Got Michael Shriber up at bat. He takes for a strike. Has a healthy lead again. And he goes takes that for a strike. Yeah. So, as expected, they're going to let him take second. Um with two outs, no throw down. You got two runners here, George, in uh in scoring position. See what we can do. Yeah. No balls, two strikes, and there's a foul. John, I didn't see the last game, but I thought that um the the game ended with a u a throw down to second base on a
046caught steel. Yeah, delay steel situation. Um likewise, I wasn't at the game, but I think that's one that coach Messer wants back. You don't want a um strike out. Yeah, there's a strike out there. You don't want to end a a game like that uh on the base pass uh you know um with uh you know I think at the time you had Chris Bradica um you had Laro you had the top of the order anyway um although albeit with two outs you just don't want to make that uh out there so uh trying to create something where where something wasn't and um not yeah yep I just part of uh our discussion with him earlier uh today um you know he did bring up the Medway game and and how he he wants that
047one back. He wants that one back for sure. Well, here we are at the end of the third inning. Yeah. Let's see how many uh how many pitches is Grumb here. Got him at 36, George. 36. That's That's pretty good. Pretty efficient. Yep. 12 an inning. Um had a quick quick couple innings there. Yep. 12 pitches an inning. That's that's actually very good for a for a pitcher. Yeah. Yeah. Um talking with coach Messer uh before the game. Um again, Jared Grunwam, another one of these, you know, underassman who's able to do a a lot of uh um give give the team a lot of time. um he's able to do it on the mount, eat a lot of uh innings. Um he's hoping to take him, use him. Um there's a couple of guys
048that he goes to uh that coach Messer will go to consistently that are ready to go, but um yeah, definitely want to um see see um Grunbomb go deep. Not just because of the pitcher George, but what that's going to indicate if we're able to use him um into the fifth inning. Uh it means that we're clean defensively. Yeah. And and that's the, you know, part of the turning the corner and and getting the train rolling and you know, you know, getting some momentum uh through the season. That ball's high. One ball, two strikes. Yeah, Jar's pretty accurate there. you know, he gets his strikes, then he, you know, tries to paint the corners. That's a high fly ball. What a catch. What a catch. Yeah, that's Aiden Cowan right there. Um, tough one now.
049So, he's uh right-handed and uh he's he's going over his right shoulder to make that play and um actually has to leave his feet to make sure he has a full grip on it. And not an easy play, but um but he gets it done. A great catch by Aiden Cow. You said he had had a great break on the ball running backwards over the opposite shoulder. That's fantastic catch. Absolutely. Absolutely. He probably learned it from you, you know, back when he was playing little. That's right. With the um with the 10-year-old Reds team over at the uh minor field at Grenell. Uh you know, I believe they had a decent year that year, George, if I recall correctly. We used to do the uh the over over the shoulder running backwards catch drills. That's
050right. I think we called it pupfly derby. Uhhuh. Yep. All right, let's go. We got a Colin Sherman at bat. That's a strike. The count is now three and two. We got a full count here. Yep. He's uh headed down to first base a little bit early. You never want to see that. Yeah, fouls one off. Jared makes him continue to work here. So yeah, definitely saving a double if if not a triple there. Uh hard hit on the ground to Devin O'Brien. Easy play to first base. Nice throw for the out. Good defense right here today so far for Ashlin. All right, two outs here. Top of the fourth inning. Brock Barry up at bat. No, short stop. Yep. He's got he's got good numbers offensively, George. Couple of guys um that um that
051coach TJ mentioned uh to us. Obviously, pitcher Payton, he brought up Brock. He brought up uh the catcher, John Sullivan. A a good um two sport athlete there. Yeah, Brock has the highest batting average on the team, although he's uh he's two and one now. That's enough for a strike. Yeah, Grump has he's thrown a great mix of uh you know fast balls and off speed stuff. There's another They caught him on that. Oh, he just buckled him George. He just did that here. He had the fast ball on the previous strike and then broke his broke his ankles on that one. That's one of their top pers. That's one of their top uh baseball players there and he's going to hear it from his boys when he gets backed up back up. But um
052to your point, it's not um you know, it's it's a it's a it's a great um execution there by uh by Jared. Yeah. Yeah. Jar's really you had a little trouble the first game or two, but I think you know some people play better in a cold weather than others. You know, we definitely had some horrific weather to especially to be a pitcher. Oh yeah. Um but he was say this is a nice warm day and Yep. get loose and, you know, you just throw your balls and Yep. enjoy it. By ball flies to the air a little bit easier. Um, you know, your plays are a little bit um easier to see, cleaner to make. A couple of spectators showing. It's funny. I, you know, the one thing I've unfortunately noticed at these games
053is we don't get a lot of uh high school kids or more kids showing up at the games. you know, some of the other in previous years I've seen a lot more show up and you know, certainly for the other sports you get a a huge turnout for the games, but uh you know, we have mostly parents and Yeah. Yeah. It takes a little while. You know, if I uh if I recall correctly, you know, you'll you'll get um into May um and you'll see a little a few more of the guys and girls uh show up and support the team. We had a few there on I want to say Monday. Nice. Um, you know, watching the game, not not the diehard fans like you who, you know, go Yeah. go out and, you
054know, below freezing weather, standing in the cold hockey rings. Yeah. Yeah. I was um after that grafting game, that 35 degree game, I said, I don't think I've been that cold since uh uh hockey hockey season. Um our our playoff games down at the rink in Franklin. It's a hard hit ball to the shorts stop. Low throw to first base, but good job by the first baseman. Is that Soderberg? That's Soderberg. Yeah, not the swinging quite the swing he wanted to put on it. Um a little bit defensive swing there and um Brock um scoops it up and sends it over first for the out. Brings up Ian. That's high hit ball to the right fielder who tracks it down easily gets under it. Yeah. So Doug Walton out there. Yep. He's made a few
055few good catches out here today right in front of us here in right field. Yeah. He's also had a uncatchable ball. So sure he appreciates those balls getting hit right. Yeah. car in a bat. Takes the first pitch for a strike. Yep. Payton Young's up to 51 pitches now, which isn't isn't terrible. Hard hit ground ball to the shorts stop. Picks it up. Nice throw to first base. Con was moving down that base path. I mean, that that was unbelievable hustle. Yeah, just can't beat it up. No, you can't. You're right. But that's, you know, that that's the way you have to run them, right? Yeah. I I think we've got ourselves a official pitching duel here, Joy. I think I think it's turned into it, you know. Um, definitely Payton like has got to
056appreciate that. Um, short half inning, you know, so far I think Ashlin has had uh three hits and Bellingham has had one hit. Y both pitches have three strikeouts. Obviously there's no no runs. So yeah. No, the um yeah, Ashlin's left a couple of guys on base. Probably about three or four guys total. Bellingham has left a guy or two on base, but uh relatively clean uh game um from the mound here by both teams and we expected that. We expected both of these teams are coming in. They're not, as we said, the strongest teams in uh their divisions, in their league. Um so they're coming in here um attitude-wise that this is a game for us. This is a game we can we can u make a difference in our season. And so you
057you can see it in the way uh the pitches are approaching the game. You can see the way the defense is uh approaching the game. We've already seen a couple of diving plays uh both teams. Um so you know um that that word you know compete and that's where it comes uh that's where it plays out in the game George is um you know that extra effort to uh give yourself a chance. Yep. First pitch ground ball to Deon O'Brien over a third base. Easy throw to first for the out. Those kinds of plays are great for your pitch count. Absolutely. And a good play there by Deon on the high hop. Um he attacked the ball. Right through it strike. Yeah, right through it there. It's a DHI was a freshman. flies out to
058left field quickly. Have two away. Eric Johnson with that. A good catch there by Yane out there in left. One ball, no strikes. That's high. Another ball. Gets in there for a strike. Look like Eric was taking all the way. A little dribbler. Close play there at first. He's calling him out. He's calling him out. What do you think? What a great play. He did not. We had We had Jared covering first and then Chris come and make the flip. Uh no signal there, but Oh jeez. I think you got to give it give the tie to the defense on that one when you see that kind of play. Yeah. What uh and you know, so listen, maybe Eric Johnson is not the biggest guy on the on the Hawks uh roster, but he was
059hustling down the line. So, real close play there. That was a beauty. Yeah, that was a great play. Again, you we don't have the angle. The umpire is on top of it, but it looked like he got there. Yeah, but I think the umpire was literally on top of the base. So, you know, he saw what really happened and amazing play by Ashlin to uh be able to turn that. Yeah. Well, it all starts with that pitch from Jared. I mean, he just fooled Eric on that one. So, I mean, that's a that's a deep bunt on a, you know, a half swing, uh, which is what's happening there to to create that space. That's probably an infield hit, uh, just for the confluence of events, uh, in that just one single play. But, uh,
060the hustle for Jared and it, you know, Jared starts off going for the ball, but the ability to pivot and cover first and for Chris to come over, back him up and make the flip. Beautiful baseball right there. Yeah. I think a lot of it was that J didn't want to get run over by Chris, which which I wouldn't want to be run over by Chris either. No. No. Uh yeah, he's um you know, uh Jared's um thickened up over the years, but he's not quite where Chris is at stature. So, no. Yeah, that that that would have been a tragic event. We're bottom of the fifth inning now. Finn Connory at bat. Yep. One ball, no strikes. Take that high for a ball. Payton still throwing some throwing some heat out there. Yeah, Payton
061sensing Yeah, Payton sensing the the bottom half of the Yoda here and and and trying to overpower batters here. Uh Ian being um Finn being patient here. Got three balls, no strikes. F shows bunt. Although everybody knew he wasn't gonna bunt. Three balls, one strike. Hard hit ball that gets through the infield. He's going to turn it, George. He's going to turn it. He's Yeah, he's in there standing up. It's good speed. taking advantage of the inconsistent grass length in the Ashlin High School outfield that either ties up the ball or lets it skid all the way out to the fence. Yes. Yeah. Putting a hard ball through the 56 cap there between the third baseman and the short stop. Um and uh showing a little bit of athleticism there with the foot speed to
062get there to second standing up. Yeah, he was flying. That's a good double forgets. Yep. And again, Ashlin runner in scoring position here early in the uh early in the inning. Yeah, with no outs and Luke O'Brien up at bat. Luke goes to Bunt and ball goes outside, but because Luke was squared to bunt, he's getting called a strike. Yeah, tough to see what the Reed over there for the if coach was wanting Finn to uh get down to third there and Luke was committed to the pitch. Squares again, pulls it back. Pulls outside one and one pitchers do it like this. just, you know, each of the coach just wants to get one run on the board. Uh pops that one up. Foul. Pton Young throws throws hard. He's he's going to be a
063tough guy to bunt off. Yeah. Now we have one ball, two strikes. So the bunts signal will be called off. Yeah, definitely throwing um throwing more fast balls this end of the order. Luke takes that one for ball. Yeah, looks like a a slider there. Two balls, two strikes. Runner on second. Young steps off the mound. high. We're starting to finally hear a lot of chatter from the uh the Ashlin bench. And yeah, they sense it. They sense it here. They do. This is a chance. And uh they got to they got to they got a battle here for one full count. Oh, he rings him up. Rings him up. That was caught the very bottom of a strike zone on that one. Yeah. Well, I'm sure Luke doesn't agree with you, but uh if
064it if it did catch it, it was right there uh at the knee. And um that's a good battle there. It's a good battle uh at at the plate. Um not the result that I want down the third time through. They're going to they're going to give Chris uh first base um and give themselves a um a double play opportunity here and stay away from Bradica who really ripped the ball there and um I want to say it was the third inning. Brings up Laro asked for a timeout. All right, so we have one out. Runners on first and second after the intention to walk on Chris Baratica. Sure. Chris will take it, but I I know he probably wanted to be up there swinging. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that ball's high. So, we'll see if
065um Payton can make the adjustment. So, we've seen him, you know, try to attack the the players at the bottom of the order with a lot more fast balls. You know, the guy's up here at the top of the order. He's trying to fool him or give him a breaking ball. Another one that goes high. So, he's got a two and0 uh to Laro here. Uh see if he can pitch through this situation. Two runners on with an out. Three balls in a row. That's uh uncharacteristic of Payton. Yeah. Um you know, you're talking about um you a guy who's been who's been out there for uh four and a half innings so far. He's close to 70 pitches. um trying to find a spot where he can find the plate on a breaking ball
066and not groove a fast ball to this kid here. He does. Hard hit on the ground. Second, they can't get the runner at first. Smart play. Smart play not to throw that ball and take a chance of uh overthrowing, but yeah, you got another chance uh George to your to your point. Yep. Yep. So, Fielder Fielder's choice um to the shorts stop out at second base. Now, we have runners on first and third. Yeah, kind of similar situation. We saw this early in the game with Finn on u I don't think it was Finn on uh third, Ollie at first, two outs. See what happens here. I got Deon O'Brien, senior up at the plate. Takes the first pitch high for a ball. Two outs. Laro goes. I don't know if the catcher was going
067to go for it, but he lost the ball in the transition. Yeah, I I don't think he would have thrown. I give that uh Well, we'll see how they score in the, you know, um I don't know about you, George. I'm I'm barely uh able to broadcast the game, never mind. Do the book. So, we'll leave the scorekeeping to someone who can determine whether that's a stolen base or defensive indifference, right? It depends on whose dad is doing game. That's right. Well, I I um I slipped Mr. Grun bomb a 50 on the way past earlier, so I'm pretty sure that's a stolen base. Oh, that gets called first. It's a little low and outside from from again from here. Yeah. Yeah. And I I'm sure it was the right call. We have two balls,
068two two balls, one strike or two balls, two strikes. Two balls, two strikes. Runners at second and third. Hard hit ground ball that gets through the gap. That's going to score two. Second on the throw. Pay attention. Oh, he's got him there if he back picks him. What do you say? Wow. Nice job. Deon O'Brien rips a single right up the middle right over second base. Uh center field did a good job getting on it. Had a really good th good accurate throw to the plate. I think if he, you know, a little bit harder, he would have actually had the runner on that throw. Yeah, Ryan Visconi is probably a victim of uh you know, two outs and and the you know, there's already a runner at third. So, Laro is is um well
069on his way home by the time that Ryan gets that ball. Right. There goes Devin. There's the throw. Not in time. No. That's good hustle. And then there's the compete. There's the hustle there, George. Yeah, that was a that was a good steal. see what they can do to um keep the offense moving here in the bottom of the fifth. Asham finally able to get guys uh out of scoring position and and back home. There's a foul ball. So it'll be one and one to Shriber and bottom of the fifth inning. Get two outs, runner on second, one ball, one strike. That ball's outside hard throwing hard. Payton now close to 80 pitches. One ball, two strikes to Shriber. Yep. gets a hold of that one. He absolutely rips that. That's going to be foul.
070That's full of the fence. Yeah, that was a well hit ball. Baseball is one of those sports you keep saying, I bet you wish he had that one back to adjust, you know, just a little bit of the angle. Yeah. Yep. Um the wind's picking up here. It is. Yeah. I think it's blowing left to right from the uh from the batter. That's a nice hard hit ground ball into Brock Barry who scoops it up. Yeah. Yeah. That's Michael Strawberry. He's a dead pole hitter there. Another hard driven ball. But um Bellingham showing a little bit of that defense there. uh at shortstop. Well, Ashton was able to put two runs on the board here. Here we go. Nice nice hitting by Deon O'Brien to drive in two runs with that uh hard hit single.
071Yeah, good diligence, you know, and it's a little bit of uh you know, uh we talked about um Payton Young and his ability as a pitcher, and I I think what you get uh sometimes is you've got um you've got a third time through the order. And um and and he just didn't get through the top of the order on that one there. George uh probably wants a couple of those pitchers back, but um you know, Ashland has had a couple of runners in scoring position. It was only kind of a matter of time before they're going to bring them around with the with the way they've been executing here today at the plate. Yeah, Bellingham has a pitcher warming up over on the side here. So, see what see what they do with uh
072Yeah, looks like Connor Riley, their left fielder. uh just getting some throws in. So, we'll see. Uh we'll look for that at the uh the bottom bottom of the six there. See if uh if uh coach uh coach Chapony uh makes a change. Yeah, up at 59 pitches. So, so Jared uh just first one that drops in there for a base hit. It's just a little blooper. Yep. Right. Right in between where the second baseman can get to and center fielder can get to. Yep. Yeah. You need neither Aiden Cow or Oliver Laro able to get to that ball. No, I don't even think you could have got to it. Well, George, I appreciate, you know, like, you know, I mean, I I set the bar of of play with what I think you could
073do. Yes. I mean, what would Yes. It was not a catchable ball. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, if anybody could could have, you know, I'd have been Yeah, that's exactly. I will say though what's one of um you know as a you know as a baseball player and you know an outfield or you know I caught and played outfield but there's nothing like full run and dive and catch you know in the outfield. It's um very exhilarating. So, it's it's something you kind of I mean, you don't want you don't want to you want nice easy balls, you know, hitting right to you, you know, in terms of winning and you know, trying to win a game. But if you're in the outfield, you wait for those and to to try to execute on those
074plays. Well, those are the ones you remember. You don't remember that ball that just came right to you. Yeah. Right. Right. There's a little dribble that was gez tough for Jared to pick up, but he stayed on it, picked it up, and got the out of first base. advancing Riley over to second. Yeah, I want to say that's Douglas Walton making uh it was making that hit. And I don't know if there's something that held him up out of the box, but um you're right. If he he didn't get the jump, jeez, he did not get the jump down the line that we we'd expect of him. Got a loose ball from the um makeshift uh bullpen that we've uh that the Hawks have created out here on um now I'm looking at it. I'm
075not Yeah, I think that's Viscani here. Takes the first strike. First pitch, first strike. Hard hit ball to Deon O'Brien who does a great job of looking down the runner at second base, preventing it from going to third and then gets gets back and gets the runner out of first. Is he an intentional walk here, John? Seems to be. Um, that's that's Sullivan, the catcher. He's uh he's one of their top guys. Uh, Coach TJ's um uh had good things to say about him, the way he uh way he plays the game and the way he's a leader for for the other guys on the team. All right. So, we got runners at first and second, two outs. Takes for a strike. One ball, one strike. Yeah, Jared's still dealing. He's close to 70, but
076um just uh he's a he's a quick, efficient pitcher. Uh George, not a lot of motion, you know, not a lot of wasted movement, just gets up there, throws, executes, trustes fielders to make plays, gets balls down in the zone. Guy who can really uh eat up innings for you. Always get another ball uh another um ball on the outside corner there called strike. That's that's just good execution right there. Two balls, two strikes. That one's high. Full count now. All right. Sherman here. Two out runners on first and second. Full count. Ball gets away. That ball gets away. Down low for a walk. Yeah, I don't think Gerard's had many walks this game. Nope. I don't really I'm sure he has. I don't recall any. Now we have the bases loaded. That's his third
077walk. And um see what coach is thinking over there. It's top of the six. No one's in the pan. I think he's um looking to get out of this inning. And um either that or he's got a uh he's got a guy in mind to replace Jared that's already in the field there. Good cut right there. Bring it one and one. One and one of a five batter Barry. Yep. One of their highest batting average guys. Yeah, he's he's definitely the guy Bellingham wants to have up right now. That's high ball two. balls, one strike, base is loaded, two outs. Top of the fifth inning here. Sixth inning, I'm sorry. Oh, he gets called a strike on that. Two balls, two strikes. Yep. He's battling. He's battling and he plays a lot of baseball. He
078knows the situation. Got to swing on a fast ball up in the zone and doesn't get it. Brings it full. Most exciting situation in baseball. Full count with bases loaded and two outs. Runners going. He's got him. And he walks him in. That's just inside for a walk. Looks good from here, George. Look great from here. Tough one here. And now we're going to see coach Mess see if he's going to confer with him or if he's going to make a make a switch. Now mound meeting psychologically, you know, for a pitcher with bases loaded, it's it's not the situation you want you want to be in. No. And you know, and it's tough because you don't want to put a pitch down the middle for the batter to hit and you start to move
079around to the corners, but then if you're not accurate with it, you're getting, you know, you don't want to walk either because I mean, yeah. I mean, a walk with nobody on is one thing, but a walk with a base. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that's probably part of, you know, bringing, you know, not just uh coach talking to him, but bringing the infield in just give them the give them the confidence. Hey, we're right behind you. You know, if you can get something in the dirt here, we're right behind you. We'll get you there with you. You know, don't you're not out here on an island. I mean, it just feels that way sometimes as a pitcher that gez, you know, like the whole situation is resting on your shoulders and it's it's tough
080to get past that moment and Jared has been able to do that and and put uh challenging pitches to the to the plate where either um getting called strikes or getting swings. So, see if he can do that here uh in the in the top of the sixth. Follow tip. Was a nice throw. He was down two balls, no strikes. Now he's got two balls, one strike. Y the lefty batter up here, Ventini. Yeah, this is the first base. Another foul back. Foul back. Now we're at two and two. I mean, none of these at bats have really been I think, you know, of his walks, he's maybe, you know, a couple of five or six pitch walks, but these have all been, you know, Oh, that's a breaking ball. He doesn't get it. Oh,
081George. Now we have a full count right there. Full count, two outs, bases loaded. Yeah, he's battled. He's battled at at every at um with every batter. There it is. He's got it in the air. That's in the air. That's That's Ollie. Diving catch. Diving catch by Ollie. Beautiful catch. Good communication right there. So, you know, is that Shriber coming out? That's um Finn Connory and and Aiden Cowan kind of converging all on the on the ball and um just having good communication and know who's going to take that ball. Yeah. And then I mean Ollie had the the right beat on it. You know, he was certainly in the right position to come in on it. I think he got a good jump on it. Oh jeez. If if Yeah. Finn Finn is making
082able to make that catch over the over the opposite shoulder going back. I mean, you know, we got to Yeah. Again, if it was on you on second, I' I'd say both. Of course. Yes. That's the way we go. But but in the real world and the center for the center fielder has to uh has to take that one. That's the story of the game so far, George. I mean, you know, you more than a few diving plays. Um, you know, in the outfield there with Ian, with uh Ollie, with Aiden, um, the the the scoop and throws in in in the infield. Um, the the fielding by the pitcher and and that's what saved him. Yeah. Um, you know, get out of that situation there. It's a tough one for Jared. He's up over
08370 pitches. Um, but he doesn't cower. He's just throwing his pitches that he knows how to he knows how to throw. and, you know, relying on a nine instead of one players to to get an out. And that's the that's a success uh that's how success successful teams operate, you know, at this uh at this level. So, we go to the bottom of the sixth here with Ashlin ahead two to one. Of course, they want to get some more runs on the board. Yeah. Um as you as Bellingham will get up at the top of the seventh to That's right. at least try to tie this thing up. Yeah. Yeah, you're middle of the order here. You're expecting uh Soderberg, man, and and Corn. Um see what they can do. Uh Soderberg 0 for two
084for the day. Payton staying in there. Um I don't know what his pitch count is, but you know, he he wants he wants this game. Yeah, he's just uh just short of 80. He's uh 79. Okay. Um and I think uh coach coach trusts him, you know. He's he's he's a top guy. He's he's got strength in that arm. He's probably got a few more in him. Um as well, just co talking with coach, you know, um he's probably managing the bullpen a little bit, too. You know what I mean? It's a ground ball right to the first base. Yeah. Another tough one for uh Soda there. Yeah. And it hit the grass, took a lot off it, and just it was I think I could have fielded that. George, you don't discount yourself, you
085know. Uh we've we've done done uh many of uh many infield um practices, you know. So listen, you can handle tougher balls than that. Well, thank you. Ball's a floating foul and up here. So we got one out. Looks like uh coach mess has one up there in the bullpen. Yeah, looks like a lefty. Another ground ball to first base. That's exact same play as the last one. Yep. Yeah, that's his off speed stuff right there. Um George to get you know the foot down early in a weak weak uh swing through the ball. Yeah. Aiden car at bat now going to make something happen here. Yeah. That ball sky high. Third baseman got a track on it coming in. Nice quick half inning right there. Yeah. That's exactly what Payton Young wanted. You might
086have been a six, seven pitch inning. Yeah. Yep. Allow him to potentially come back out. Yeah, that's actually four pitches for that inning. That's um you can't pay for that. You know what I mean? So Ashlin's three outs away from I mean this is a win we kind of would expect Ashlin to win against, you know, kind of a weaker division four team. Um I think it'd be more surprising if they didn't win, but Yep. But, you know, it's it's important to get the win. You can't take your foot off the pedal and kind of coast and let these games get away from you. So, they've done a good job of, you know, staying serious, staying sharp, and taking the game seriously even though they're facing a team with, you know, one win, 10 losses,
087and kind of a division down from them. They've they've taken it seriously and they've played very good base. I don't think there was I don't think they've uh had an error. No. No. Um they've u played a clean game defensively. Um and they I think um well whatever happens you know they put into the game what what coach wanted to in terms of the effort level um in terms of the execution um it's you know nothing's guaranteed here. So we've got another three outs to get defensively. Um they've got another three outs offensively if it doesn't work in the first top in the top half of the inning. Um but you're right um they should be they should be able to win this. Um I think coach Messa here is going to Bradica and and
088expecting is that Bradica? It is. Yeah. Having having you know the best pitcher in your team come in for for for three outs of relief. Y Bradica just pitched on Monday. Y so to have have him come in and throw uh hopefully, you know, a dozen or so pitches. Yeah. The umpire's having a little chat with with the coach. Looks like couple of changes here. I don't know. I don't know what happened here. We're going to switch things up. If there was a problem putting Bradock, I think uh maybe based on a number of pitches or days that Bradic's had since his last uh outing, it may have been an illegal uh move to to put him in. Yeah, they definitely got the umpire out here. Um and they're conferring. Um see a number of
089changes around the field here. It's still the left side of the infield stays the same. Looks like V Connor's moved back to right. Is that I don't know. Looks looks like Garly Laro is in. So now they're going to go to Laro to close out. So yeah, so there there was definitely an issue that uh that putting Bradica in had and yeah, smart of the Bellingham coach to call it out. If I was Bellingham, that the last pitcher I'd want facing me would be Bradica. Yeah. Especially after I mean the the confluence between a pitcher like Grun Bomb and a pitcher like Bradica definitely right um you know kind of a wy right-hander versus more of a um overpowering and and deceptive uh left-hander. Although I think uh again I wasn't I think Ali p
090uh he pitched relief last game and had a great outing. Um I wasn't I wasn't there. You probably know more about it than I do for multiple reasons. Yeah, I I didn't see um I didn't see the full game. Um by the sounds of it um came in three innings uh two and a third, three strikeouts. Um uh coach um Messa talked about that to us before the game just that you know giving um giving the team what he had kind of expected out of Laro for the whole season and hadn't quite gotten um always had been on the mound a few times for the team and hasn't had um I guess the success that that um neither he nor the coaching staff is is looking for. So these He's definitely a competitor. So, he's
091when that happens, that just I think that makes him more determined to to write the ship and do well. He's quickly behind two balls, no strikes. He's working pretty quickly up there. That ball's outside. He's got a strike there. That's in there for a strike. Three balls, one strike. And that's fouled off. Battle back to a full count. the bottom of the order here. So, this is kind of what you want when you're trying to close a game out. Oh, hits him. Yep. He took a little bit off that. Yep. Kind of aiming his pitch right there. Uh just amongst the the changes here defensively you have Jared coming out of pitcher going to second base moving um Finn Connory back to right field I think Nen Con shift it over to left field. Yep.
092And that's an air for a strike. Yeah. This is the bottom of the order. So that's probably, you know, a difficult uh um at bat to to give up there toi. You got a pick there. He's okay. Checks him at first and he's okay. Okay. It's a nice move by Laro. He he had me fooled um on that one. Huge advantage for our left-handed pitchers. Well, you got a pitcher over there, too, playing first base. And um you know you often see that with with um Laro Bradica covering first or vice versa with with with Bradica pitching and Laro at first, right? They really get in sync and and make good moves over there. Goes over to first base again. One ball, one strike to Eric Johnson. First base again. All right. A little shade
093going on here for a change. Yeah. Terrible day. Yeah. So cloudy. Lays out lays out a bunt. Foul ball. No. Calls a foul. Jeez. Yep. Looked like a great bunt, but it just just didn't quite get, you know, maybe an inch or two forward for him. Yeah, that's that's Eric Johnson at the plate. Um, George, and he's he's shown a couple of, you know, um, good baseball plays, and that bunt right there was just one of them that just kind of bounces off on them, you know. So, um, pitch way outside there, two and two. Almost looked like he squared the butt again, which you don't expect with uh two strikes, but now he's got a full count. Yep. See what happens here. Run a first. No out. Full count. He does lay down a
094bunt. Throw to second. Nice job by the Ro going getting the lead. So he laid down the bun. Unfortunately, he he hit it much too hard and hit it right right to Oie coming in on it. Yeah, I think with two strikes there, it's it is uncommon. It's not unseen. Um but, you know, as a batter, you're really just trying to make sure that it gets in play. You're looking to push that uh ball in play so that you can get that runner over to second. I think you just kind of pushed it too much. Yeah. Yep. Uh but Ashley not able to uh turn the two. So you still have a guy on first here with one out. Throw right there. And he's got him. He got him. And that's exactly what we were
095talking about, George, is that that communication, getting in sync as a pitcher and a um it's almost like a second battery out there, being able to, you know, know your pitcher and know his know his move. Um it gives you an advantage to uh um to pick a guy there at first. I'm It just looks like coach uh Jalon is not too happy about this. Just wants to talk it through with the umpire what uh what he has seen. So I don't know. Um you remember that last time when that that um umpire changed his mind. Don't don't you? Yeah. Yeah. No. No. Me neither. Yeah. I remember that. Well, it was back back in 1904. Yep. So that the outstands and now we have we're we're one out away now from a one a
096two to one victory here. Yep. One ball, one strike. It looks like that hit the batter. Yep. He's got two hits batman's in one inning. Now he has two baseballs. Yeah. fault. You know, as a guy who's going around beating people like he is, like I I give him less balls rather than more, but you know, uh yeah, the catcher Luke O'Brien and the umpire threw him a ball right at the same time. It's good thing one didn't hit him. Ground ball right to the second baseman. Grumb bomb picks it up to first base. Easy out. And that's the ball game. Yep. Excellent job, John, by uh Ash. I mean, it's a two to one game. It's not, you know, I think we would have liked to seen a lot more runs, but I think
097we had a couple of very good pitchers and, you know, Bellingham pitcher, um, you know, Bar, you know, you know, one of the top pitchers in the Tri Valley League. So, to get a win with him on the mound, I think was, you know, a huge victory for Ashland. Oh, yeah. Exactly. Yeah. We um he mentioned it to the uh before the game uh coach TJ did that you know Payton's their top guy and he proved it. You know even putting guys on um in scoring position in in the third in the in um early in the game u they left Ashlin running stranded um with his ability to to get out of situations with his ability to control the ball. Yes. Uh you know command command the plate. So, uh, we definitely, uh, get
098the benefit of seeing a good a good pitcher duel here today on both sides. You know, on the other side of the on the other side, uh, other dugout, you know, Jared Grunbomb really um, a able to just u eat eat away innings, eat away innings, and use the the seven guys behind them to to to make plays and and that they did. Um, yeah, good play all around. You know, I I I think the I'll give the MVP to Devin O'Brien for that that hard shot down the middle to score two runs. Yes. Uh to, you know, to put him on the board. You know, two outs. Uh you're facing a very tough pitcher. Y and he just got the ball just right down the middle and that's what they needed the two runs.
099Yeah. I mean, it goes to uh what coach Messer has been been trying to get out of these guys all all season and starting to come around is that compete. And it's, you know, it's a it's a vague term, maybe a cliche, u but you can you can see the way Devin's going about his his um played appearances. He's a he's trying to hit a hard ball, a difficult ball in play, and that's what he got out of that situation. First time through um his second at bat, he had the first and third situation. He's swinging hard. He just gets under it, but it doesn't deter him from from coming up the same situation there in the fifth and and and putting putting the um the ball ball through. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Every at bat's
100a new a new opportunity. Um Yeah. You know, to uh to um make something happen. So, you have to have a short memory in baseball because it's, you know, it's a game of misses. So you got to forget what happened last time and it's it's a whole new times, a whole new try. So this Yeah, I I think coach was looking for a lot more to put a lot more runs on the board to get the bats going more to to you know score especially on you know the Bellingham team and they weren't able to do that but you know a win's a win and you said they were facing a tough very tough pitcher and I I I think things turned out as good as they could have. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. We're and
101we're the benefactors. We saw some good baseball here today, George. Yep, we did. All right. All right, with that being said, we're going to close it out here. Thank you for joining us today for National Varsity Baseball, and we'll see you at an upcoming game. Thank you. Camera with a weird angle. That was kind of fun.