The Tartan Pride baseball team have absolutely dominated their opponents the past five games, beating them by an average of almost nine runs a game. A combination of solid starting pitching, quality at bats and good defense have made their recent games easy victories.
The Pride played a two game series against Westmoreland CC and obliterated them 13-2 and 15-5. The Pride only had seven hits, yet they put up 13 runs in their first victory. Third baseman Alec Turner drove in three of those runs with a homerun while second baseman Chad Roberts sent one deep of his own. Alex Anders earned his first win of the season, pitching four innings and allowing five hits, two runs and seven strike outs. The second game was no better for Westmoreland as pitcher/outfielder Brody got his first win and Billy Kidd led the team with four RBIs.
A terrifying moment occurred in the first game against St.Clair when Billy Kidd hit a line drive straight up the middle, striking opposing pitcher Dillion McInerney right above his eye. McInerney fell to the ground as teammates and coaches gathered around to help him. He was able to get up after a few minutes and was taken to a hospital by his parents.
“He (McInerney) is a young guy who has already committed to a good D-II school up north so it shakes him up a little bit. That’s their leader for them. For us, we did a good job handling it. Billy (Kidd) was a little shaken up. You hate to be the one that hits it or does it but its part of the game,” says Dintaman.
Seeing a pitcher go down like that is something no one ever wants to see and sends a reminder that there is a dangerous element to a game where you never see anyone get injured like you do in football.
“I’m always aware of the possibility of the ball coming back and hitting me but you just have to take it as it comes,” says Krieger, who was on a pitch count but wanted to go back in after his fourth inning was over.
Krieger pitched a beautiful four inning game, only allowing one hit, one run and one walk while striking out four. Everyone in the starting lineup got on at least once, with Tyler Cowles, Nick Massey and Ben Myers all got two hits.
The second game was more of the same as the Pride continued to get on base and kept runners off. Starting pitcher Jakob Schnecker tossed four innings of two-run baseball before being relieved by Tyler Keith and Blake Lambert. Closer Travis Rowland earned his second save in three appearances. First baseman Connor Clearly, who leads the team with 10 walks, crushed his first homerun of the season over left-field. Chad Roberts followed that up with a solo shot of his own over center field fence, which is 397 feet out.
Following a 7-0 start, this year’s team resembles much of last year’s with quality at bats and pitching depth. The Pride play two games this week against Muskegon CC and four games against Kellogg CC, the team that knocked them out of the tournament last year and is ranked fifth in the preseason rankings this year.