Game photos of Independence click here.
Coming off a successful season that didn’t fulfill expectations well enough, this year’s version of the Berkshire Badgers baseball program has a great blend of experience and talent that Head Coach Nick Burzanko sees going deeper into the season.
The team took a huge step in that direction April 15 on its home field, using great defense, situational hitting and stout pitching to take a 10-0 Chagrin Valley Conference contest from the Grand Valley Mustangs.
“We will have four key things to work for this season,” Burzanko said. “First, we have to put the ball into play. You have to outscore the other team, and situational hitting can do that. It puts more pressure on the other team as well, forcing them to look at multiple situations.
“Secondly, you need to be aggressive in base-running. We’ve used some new techniques, and they’ve been successful so far there.”
“Thirdly, we have good pitching, so the pitchers need to keep focusing on letting their defense make plays behind them, without needing to strike out every hitter. That helps their concentration.”
“Fourthly, we need to play good situational baseball to compete with the tough teams in our league. The CVC is always tough; you have to look at Kirtland as one of the top teams, Cardinal is tough, even without having Jake Bean pitching now, and Crestwood will be right there as well.”
The strength of the Badgers (4-2) will be their pitching rotation and defense, but the hitting also will be on the money most of the time. Ethan Martin, a tall lanky right-hander, is the top guy. He is joined by Patrick Brancel, Sam Barcikoski, Louis Filby and Jack Hastings. All play other positions, but are interchangeable at any time.
Against the Mustangs, Barcikoski led off while playing in left. Brancel was behind the plate, Martin hit third, Filby was the cleanup guy, Hastings patrolled centerfield, Jason Brent was at first base, Paul Brent was in right field, and freshman Oliver Miller plugged the middle of the defense from his shortstop position. Aiden Pollack filled the gap at second base.
With a sweet day for baseball, the previous rains of recent times left a calling card. Hasting made a diving catch in left-center on the first hitter of the game, a misplayed grounder for an error.
The final dagger in Mustang hearts may have come on the very next play. The hitter sent a soft blooper into no-man’s-land in right center, but the speedy Hastings got to it and made another diving catch, which ignited Martin’s fastball. He fanned the next four hitters on his way to a one-hit, five-inning shutout that included nine strikeouts.
The Badgers’ first-inning miscue was their only misplay in the field (4-2), and in the bottom of the first inning, they manufactured two runs as the four top hitters all reached base.
Barcikoski blooped a single to right-center, Brancel walked, and Martin sent a screamer to left. Barcikoski was picked off at third, but Brancel moved up and scored as Martin singled to left. A wild pitch moved Martin up, and Filby sent a shot at the second baseman that was too hot to handle for an error and the second run.
That was all Martin needed, as his fastball dominated, but the Badgers were not done with the aluminum sticks.
They tallied four runs in the third. Brancel tripled and came home on an infield out; Filby drilled a cannon shot off the scoreboard down the left-field line for a homer; and a hit batman, single from Jason Brent and three errors led to two more runs.
The Badgers put the exclamation point on the game with three more runs in the fourth. A Barcikoski single and back-to-back doubles from Brancel and Martin plated a pair, Hastings sent a shot into the hole at short that drove home the third run, and Barcikoski’s third hit of the game drove home the clincher in the bottom of the fifth.
“We’ve got four starters back this year in our lineup, five lettermen as well,” Burzanko said.
Berkshire was solid last season, going 15-10 overall and 9-3 in CVC action, but expect more this season.
