Men’s baseball team earned their 14th win of the season as they beat McHenry County College on Tuesday at the Spartan Athletic Fields.
The Spartans got off to a great start as catcher/outfielder Nick Weaver got a double during the bottom of the 1st inning. Also in the same inning, he got the first run of the game for the Spartans.
As the game went on, the team’s offense slowed down but in the top of the 4th inning, the defense picked up the pace as shortstop/second baseman Chris Lara made a double play.
During the bottom of the 4th inning, pitcher/infielder Matthew Brunscheen gets the first stolen base of the game for the Spartans.
Infielder Andrew Flynn made a wonderful leap during the bottom of the 7th inning. The team moved on to win this game on a walk off on a base on balls play from catcher/outfielder Nick Weaver.
Coach Bill Angelo gave his thoughts on how the team performed in this game.
“We were excited about the opportunity to, you know, McHenry has a good program. So it gives us a chance to really kind of measure where we’re at with everything, and if we can, you know where we want to be at the end of the year, we’re gonna have to beat teams like this. So this was a good test for us.” he said.
Angelo mentioned if the air quality affected the team’s performance.
“I don’t think so. From what I was told, the smoke is not getting over here. It’s just you, you’ll smell it, but it won’t do anything. There’s no air quality issues or anything like that, so we’re not too concerned about it,” he said.
Coach Angelo addressed the improvements the team should work on.
“We need to work on situational, timely hitting, hitting with two strikes, being able to bounce back from adversity and not getting too caught up in the moment. A lot of times we get too high and too low, like us to just kind of play on an even level, where we’re well, where we’re playing at a high level all the time,” he said.
Outfielder/first baseman Peter Mitchell gave his thoughts on the game.
Mitchell mentioned how well he performed in this game. “Did alright. I didn’t get my bunt down on the last one but thankfully, I got on base and was able to score the winning run.” he said.
According to Mitchell, he gave a prediction on if the team finishes the season strong. “That’s what we’re looking to do. We come here every day and, you know, we try to win one at a time. So keep doing that, and we’ll be alright.” Mitchell said.
He gave his thoughts on what improvements he needs to address moving forward. “Staying focused, and taking each play one at a time and making the right plays at the right time.” Mitchell mentioned.
Pitcher Josh Caccia gave his opinion on how the game went.
“I felt like I performed great. You know, I was able to hit my spots that were behind the plate, great defense behind me the entire game. I could rely on them and not have to worry.” Caccia said.
According to Caccia, he mentioned if the team will finish the season strong.
“Yeah, if we’re able to keep playing like these against these tough teams, I believe that we’re going to be able to finish strong and be competitive every game. So it’s the team trying to stay consistent like every game, in terms of, like, both the offense and defense.” Caccia mentioned.
Also, he added “So we’re all trying to stay the same, stay consistent throughout. Everyone’s got their roles, everyone’s got their jobs, and it’s everyone’s duty to execute those, and when we do, we win the ball game.”
Caccia addressed the improvements that he would like to work on.
“Definitely like to make sure when I miss a zone, I’m not missing as wide, staying closer to the zone, so keeping the hitter more on their toes and having to fight off more close pitches if I ever miss them.” he said.
The team’s next game will be against McHenry Community College in game 2 of the doubleheader.
