Reinartz homers, earns save with pickoff as Zebras edge Caston

Holloway has 3 hits, 2 RBIs for Comets

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Carson Paulik Lane Halterman

Tanner Reinartz hit the game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth and later pitched a scoreless seventh for the save as the Rochester baseball team rallied to beat Caston 11-10 at wet Bob Copeland Field in the home opener Friday.

Freshman Linden Wilburn drove in the run that put the Zebras ahead for good in the sixth after Reinartz’s homer.

Eli Holloway walked against Reinartz with one out in the seventh and stole second. Gavin Mollenkopf grounded into a fielder’s choice with third baseman Carson Paulik throwing to second to nab Holloway.

Reinartz then picked Mollenkopf off first base to end the game.

Reinartz said he learned the pickoff move from former teammate Tarick McGlothin, who now plays at Indiana Wesleyan.

“That’s just a little move I picked up from Tarick McGlothin actually back in 10U (10-and-under),” Reinartz said. “Don’t come set and just lean over and look and fire it over there.”

Rochester senior Tanner Reinartz shows off his cleats after the Zebras’ 11-10 win over Caston Friday. Reinartz had three hits, including a homer, and four RBIs at the plate, and he also got the save on the mound in soggy conditions.

Working feverishly between pitches to try to remove the mud from his cleats, Reinartz said he threw all fastballs during his outing.

At the plate, he went 3 for 4 with four RBIs and three runs scored. Carson Paulik hit an opposite field homer as part of a two-hit, two-RBI game, and Brant Beck had two hits and two RBIs while also earning the win on the mound.

Zakk Parks and Conner Dunfee had two hits each, and Wilburn had two RBIs.

All nine Rochester starters had at least one hit. After Lafayette Jeff held them hitless through four innings Thursday, Rochester has scored 23 runs and cracked 23 hits in their last seven innings.

Sophomore shortstop Eli Holloway had three hits, two RBIs and three runs scored for Caston (0-1). Drew McGrew had two hits, and Logan Mollenkopf, Noah Herd, Parker Zimpleman and Tucker Woolever had one hit each.

Logan Mollenkopf also walked three times and scored three runs in his varsity debut, and fellow freshman Zimpleman also had an RBI. Gavin Mollenkopf had two RBIs, and Lane Halterman also had an RBI, and Carson Harness scored twice.

Rochester trailed 9-3 going into the bottom of the fifth but scored five times with help from Reinartz’s two-run double on a 2-0 count and an RBI double from Paulik on a 3-1 count.

“I just told our coaches that tonight was more about focusing on what we can do and see where we’re at,” Caston coach Blake Mollenkopf said. “We did not do a great job on the mound of getting ahead of hitters, so they got a lot of fastball counts, and they do have some talented kids that hit fastballs really well. If you can’t keep them off balance, that’s the swings you get.”

Linden Wilburn’s grounder to third was booted for an error to score Paulik and make it 9-7.

Dunfee then blooped a single to right to load the bases, and when the throw to third to try for a force was wild, Parks headed for the plate. When the throw to try and get Parks at the plate was also wild, Wilburn tried to score, but catcher Mollenkopf ran to the backstop and threw home to pitcher Noah Herd covering to get Wilburn.

But the lead was down to one.

Halterman’s sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth gave Caston a 10-8 lead, but Herd walked Casper to lead off the bottom half, and Reinartz clobbered a long homer onto Indiana 14 to tie the game. Four batters later, Wilburn singled home Brant Beck, who had singled and advanced to second on a passed ball.

Rochester coach Cory Good described the team as “flat” for the first few innings, but Wilburn helped reverse that.

“I’ve been excited about the bat,” Good said of Wilburn, who is 2 for 6 with three RBIs on his young career. “Some freshmen get up there, and you can see them nervous and feeling a little bit, but we all feel pretty confident when he’s in the box. He swings a mean stick. He’s confident at the plate and loose, but a couple big hits from freshmen today that got the energy going.”

Reinartz then made his season pitching debut in the top of the seventh.

Holloway opened the scoring in the top of the first when he scored on a wild pitch.

Beck’s two-run single to center off Caston starter Harness gave the Zebras a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first, but the Comets answered with four in the top of the second off Rochester starter Parker Casper.

Holloway’s two-run double to deep right-center scored Woolever and McGrew and moved Logan Mollenkopf to third. Gavin Mollenkopf added a sacrifice fly, and Herd bashed a double to deep right-center to score Holloway and make it 5-2.

Paulik went deep over the right-center field fence in the third to make it 5-3, but Caston then padded their lead in the fourth.

Logan Mollenkopf scored on a wild pitch, and Holloway scored on a throwing error after Harness struck out on a breaking ball in the dirt and attempted to reach first. Zimpleman’s first career RBI came on a line single to left and made it 8-3.

Gavin Mollenkopf’s RBI grounder to Coleman at short in the top of the fifth gave Caston a six-run lead.

“I thought they pitched a lot of strikes,” Good said of Casper and Beck’s work over the first six innings. “I wasn’t upset with the way they pitched.”

Rochester 11, Caston 10

Caston 140 311 0 – 10 9 4

Rochester 201 053 X – 11 15 3

WP – Brant Beck (4 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 7 K)

LP – Noah Herd (1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 1 K)

S – Tanner Reinartz (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K)

2B – Tucker Woolever (CAS), Eli Holloway (CAS), Noah Herd (CAS), Logan Mollenkopf (CAS), Tanner Reinartz (RHS), Carson Paulik (RHS)

HR – Carson Paulik (RHS), Tanner Reinartz (RHS)