Good raves about defense after shutout of Bluffton

‘It might have been the best defensive game I’ve seen a Zebra baseball team play in a long time’

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Tanner Reinartz Drew Bowers

KOKOMO — Brady Coleman and Parker Casper combined on a three-hit shutout, and Carson Paulik drove in the go-ahead run with an a two-strike, two-out RBI triple in the first inning as the Rochester baseball team beat Bluffton 4-0 in the first round of the Howard County Invitational at Northwestern High School Friday.

Rochester will play Rossville at 10 a.m. today at Eastern (Greentown) High School in the semifinals. Rossville downed Northwestern 8-1 in the other first-round game at Northwestern.

Meanwhile, Eastern beat Taylor 10-0 in five innings, and Peru blanked Adams Central 9-0 in the first-round games at Eastern.

Tanner Reinartz and Paulik later added back-to-back sacrifice flies in the third inning, and Drew Bowers had an RBI infield single in the fourth.

Coleman allowed two hits over the first five innings, and fellow sophomore Casper retired six of the seven batters he faced over the final two.

Bluffton, who came in 2-0 and averaging 11 runs per game, did not get a runner in scoring position after the third inning.

The standout Zebra skill might have been the defense:

First baseman Conner Dunfee scooped out low throws to retire Aaron Streveler in the first inning and Cameron Williams in the seventh.
Catcher Zakk Parks threw out Easton Blair trying to steal second in the first.
Reinartz nabbed Axton Beste’s liner at third in the first.
Reinartz handled Zane Betz’s grounder and turned it into an inning-ending forceout at third in the second. That was the only time Bluffton had two men on base.
Then, after Trevor Smith led off the third with a triple, Reinartz made a lunging catch on Streveler’s liner and then outraced Smith back to third, lunging and touching the bag with a head-first dive for a highlight film-worthy unassisted double play.
And with a runner at first and one out in the fourth, Reinartz ranged far to his right to stab Abram Gehrett’s grounder and started a 5-4-3 double play with second baseman Brant Beck turning the pivot to nip Gehrett by an eyelash at first.
Senior left fielder Bowers ran full speed toward the left-field line to make a catch on the seemingly snakebit Streveler’s deep liner to end the fifth.

“Unbelievable, I mean, I told these guys in the dugout after the game… it might have been the best defensive game I’ve seen a Zebra baseball team play in a long time,” Rochester coach Cory Good said. “Every single play, we made it. That 5-4-3 double play that Tanner made and Drew’s catch out there and Dunfee had two big scoops, but defense was incredible. Those double plays came at a time when they got some pressure on us on the bases, and they got guys in scoring position, and when you can do that, we just killed the momentum.”

Coleman credited assistant coaches Bryan Holcomb and Todd Beehler with helping his improvement as a pitcher. He threw just two innings on the varsity last year, but including a two-inning relief stint against John Glenn Tuesday, he has thrown seven innings already this year. He said he struggled with his curve against Bluffton so he threw more fastballs.

He also raved about the defense behind him.

“Oh my God, amazing,” Coleman said. “It was unbelievable how they were just picking those balls and all that. It was amazing to watch.”

Bluffton pitcher Griffin Morgan, a hard-throwing lefty, struck out five his first time through the order, but he struck out only one after that. Meanwhile, Rochester made him pay for his lapses in control: He walked three, and all three came around to score.

Coleman walked to lead off the game and stole second and went to third on a wild pitch.

Morgan struck out Casper looking and Reinartz swinging. But on a 3-2 pitch, Paulik laced a liner to right-center that rolled to the fence.

Coleman scored as Paulik cruised to third.

Walks to Coleman and Casper and a double steal preceded the sacrifice flies in the third.

Parks led off the fourth with a bloop single and went to third on Brayson Flory’s sacrifice bunt and an error on a dropped throw at first base.

Bowers then hit a chopper to first. Morgan did not immediately dash to first from the mound, and the speedy Bowers beat first baseman Easton Blair to first for an RBI.

“I really thought that we just did a great job of eating pitches," Good said. “Even on some of those strikeouts, we were going six, seven, eight-pitch at-bats and just getting that pitch count elevated. In a tournament like this where everybody knows they’re playing three games, pitch count is a high priority. So I think we just buckled down and made him work and make pitches come to us. After we saw that velo a little bit, I think we settled down.”

Rochester 4, Bluffton 0

Bluffton 000 000 0 – 0 3 1

Rochester 102 100 X – 4 6 0

WP – Brady Coleman (5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 3 K)

LP – Griffin Morgan (4 ⅔ IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K)

3B – Trevor Smith (BLUF), Carson Paulik (RHS)