The varsity baseball team is in the midst of a tough season, but one highlight was the double-header against rival Orange, on Wednesday, April 9 and Friday, April 11.
The Bison traveled to Orange for the first game. The teams are friendly with one another, but they came prepared for an aggressive game.
“Going into the game, both teams were posting on social media and talking with each other,” Junior captain Ethan Malek said. “So going into the game we wanted to show them and play a good game.”
Senior captain Josh Rosenblitt, a D1 commit to Oakland University, is starting pitcher for the Bison, as he is able to build good momentum.
“When Josh started to cruise through their lineup I had a good feeling about winning the game,” Malek said.
“Pitchwise, my breaking ball was getting a lot of weak contact, and my defense had a great game behind me,” Rosenblitt said. “It allowed me to get my fastball by them and keep the hitters off balance.”
Rosenblitt has a great pitch arsenal and pitches with a velocity not many high school players can hit.
The Bison didn’t just come strong on the pitching side of the game, they came out swinging as well.
The batters knew they had to face Johnny Neal, a strong pitcher who is a D3 commit to Baldwin Wallace.
“Going into the game we knew what we were going to face and see out of a good pitcher,” Malek said. “So going up to hit I knew that I had to approach the plate [with patience to wait for the] pitch I needed.”
“Having a good approach at the plate leads to a good mindset, which leads to success, which I had going 3-4 with a double and 2 singles,” he added.
Malek expressed how going into this game, the mood and energy were completely different than earlier games in the season.
“The three games before Orange were rough,” he said. “The energy was always down and everyone gave up in the first inning.”
“At the Orange game, you could tell our mindset was different,” he added. “We were more focused.”
Malek’s mindset paid off in the game as he made a big impact with two of the team’s four runs.
The Bison finished the game 4-0.
The Bison played Orange again the next day but the weather was bad, so the game was moved to a neutral site at Mentor High School. This means a lot when playing in a conference game with a different atmosphere for both teams.
The boys knew that their rivals were going to come out and try to get back a win in a big game for the conference.
“During the second game it was a very different feeling knowing that we won the first on them on their home field,” he said. “They came into this game wanting to get the win back that we got on them.”
“During warmups you can feel the tension coming from the teams,” he added. “All the players [on both teams] had something to prove by beating [our] school rivals.”
The Bison came out aggressive in the first inning.
“Going into this game we knew that we were going to see a pitcher that threw a lot of strikes and had a decent curveball, so we went up to the plate ready to swing the bat,” Malek said.
“[This approach led to] a good first inning,” he added. “We put up 4 runs in the first inning, giving a good lead of 4-0.”
The team was able to hold the energy and teamwork throughout the game, leading to an 8-3 win, sweeping Orange in the double-header and taking a 2-0 start in conference play.
This sweep felt particularly good for the seniors, who know they finished strong against their rivals.
“I have played against Orange many times in both baseball and soccer, so I was definitely very excited to end my time against them with a great team win,” Rosenblitt said. “It felt good to see our team play a complete game for really the first time all year.”
“It felt great being able to sweep Orange my senior year,” Senior Jaycob Zabell said. “It was a very important chapter for me to beat our rivals one last time before I graduate, so I was very proud of how our team was able to go out there and compete and dominate the entire game.”
These wins also built a lot of momentum for the team as they went on to beat West Geauga 5-0 on April 14.
Since West Geauga, however, the Bison have had a rough go of it as they are on a losing streak of 9 games.
“Losing [that many] in a row isn’t fun, and not good mentally, but going into the postseason and playoffs are right around the corner the team is looking to turn it around and make a run in the playoffs,” Malek said.
The Bison are finishing up conference play this week with a double-header against Chagrin Falls, looking to finish strong going into the playoffs.
The Bison fell short with an 8-1 loss to the Tigers on May 5th.
They face Chagrin Falls at home tonight at 5:00 pm.
