Coldwater’s Derek Dues gets the hero’s welcome following his third inning three-run homer against St. Henry. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Coldwater made the most of 30-mile-per-hour winds and sturdy pitching by Karsyn Homan to win 7-3 Thursday, handing St. Henry its first loss.
St. Henry, OH – In the span of about a minute and one hundred fifty words following Thursday’s MAC matchup with St. Henry, Cavalier starting pitcher Karsyn Homan shared that the Cavs’ 7-3 win over their route 118 rivals was a big game.
“The wind was blowing,” said Homan of the 30-mile-per-hour gusts that plagued both teams.
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“But you just have to focus and play through it in game like this one. This was a big game and they’re a good team.”
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Homan was then the picture of focus and concentration, pitching five innings of two-run, six-hit baseball, and helped his own cause by authoring a home run in the third inning that pretty much symbolized any fly ball of medium or better depth in the outfield. If you were inside the fence, hold your breath. If you were sitting outside the fence, you’d better be heads up.
Frankly, a matchup of two of the state’s best small division teams deserved better conditions, because the anticipation by both teams was understandably high…and yes, to Homan’s words, it was a marquee matchup with league title and tournament seed considerations on the line in about three weeks.
And St. Henry drew first blood in the first inning. With one out catcher Drew Langenkamp popped a Homan fastball to dead center field that Coldwater’s Braxton Taylor turned to chase, then suddenly stopped. With the help of the jet stream the ball was gone in an instant, over the center field fence as a surprised Langenkamp circled the bases.
And inning later the Redskins loaded the bases with two outs, and coach Mike Gast inwardly prayed for another ball up in the jet stream. Only it wasn’t meant to be. Langenkamp struck out with the bases loaded, and Gast must have known that his team had missed a huge opportunity.
Mind over wind, in this case…Coldwater’s Karsyn Homan pitched five innings of 3-run, six-hit baseball against St. Henry to claim the win.
St. Henry’s Max Delzeith had worked his way around the wind and through the Coldwater effectively enough for the first two innings, but that was about to end. In the top of the third with one out, Coldwater put runners on first and second with Derek Dues at the plate, and the Coldwater shortstop hammered a Delzeith fastball that needed no jet stream…far out over the left centerfield fence to put the Cavaliers ahead 3-1.
Moments later, in the bottom of the inning, St. Henry’s Owen Zimmerman walked and first baseman Jake Schwieterman took full advantage of the wind, hitting a ball out to left to tie the score at 3-3.
In the top of the fourth Coldwater threatened with Caden Obringer on third base with one out after his leadoff double, and coach Corey Klenke went small-ball, attempting the suicide squeeze for the go-ahead run. The bunt was good, but too hard, offering Jake Schwieterman an opportunity to throw out Obringer at the plate for the second out. Now, with Jake Kessen standing on first base with two outs, Karsyn Homan came to the plate and made everyone forget the squeeze play, hammering a two run homer to left to got up 5-3.
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St. Henry threatened, but fail to score in the bottom of the fourth, and both teams were retired in order in the fifth.
But in the sixth, against St. Henry reliever Owen Zimmerman, Coldwater loaded the bases with a golden opportunity to blow the game open, but them standing with a ground ball for the third out.
The wind had players inside the fence holding their breath…onlookers outside the fence with heads up and moving lively.
In the bottom of the inning. St. Henry put runners on first and second with none out against reliever Rudy Kremer, but stranded them with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out.
Neither team, it seemed, could get another ball up into that wind with runners on base.
But in the seventh Coldwater broke through with a pair of hits to open the inning, a sac bunt, and then a sac fly to right field to go up 6-3.
A moment later Caden Obringer drove a single back through the middle to score the game’s final run and the Cavs led, 7-3.
Kremer walked the leadoff runner in the bottom of the seventh, but a pair of strikeouts, and finally a fly ball to center…but not deep enough to take advantage…end the game.
Coldwater won it with 7 runs on 9 hits and no errors to improve to 8-1
St. Henry lost it with 3 runs on 7 hits and one error to drop its first game of the year…at 8-1.
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Karsyn Homan had had a dream afternoon – winning pitcher in a rivalry game with a home run to help his own cause.
“It wasn’t that hard to pitch (in the win),” said Homan. “It’s just a mindset and we were on a mission out there. We wanted this team and we don’t like losing to them. And the home runs were good in this park with the wind blowing out like that. You knew the ball was going to go out when it left the bat.”
St. Henry catcher Drew Langenkamp waits for the baseball to knock off Coldwater’s Caden Obringer on a squeeze bunt attempt to score in the fourth inning.
Cory Klenke was more subdued, having played both high school and college baseball in conditions similar, or worse. But like Karsyn Homan, he appreciated the mindset to get the win.
“We had a lot of good at bats tonight, all through the lineup,” said Klenke. “Even when we didn’t have runners on. We were conscious of wind blowing out, because while we’re not a big home run hitting team, you can lose one when you put a good swing on the ball. And that was the story of the game.
“And we wanted to keep the pressure on ’em, so we played the squeeze in the fourth. It didn’t get us the run, but I felt we did a good job trying to execute it. And we missed an opportunity in the sixth, but I trust each and every one of these guys to have a good at bat and put a ball in play. We didn’t get it in the sixth, but we did in the seventh.”
For the talent they lost last year, Coldwater is back, they’re for real, and they’re going to someone’s tough out on a daily basis until it’s over.
Likewise, Mike Gast believes that his Redskins have yet to play their best baseball through nine games, and can’t wait until they do.
But like the Redskins, the New York Mets played thirty games in spring training and just lost eight games in a row. So it takes some patience. Of course, no high school team has 30 games to get it right, but Coldwater and St. Henry aren’t going to need that many.
Had there been no wind on Thursday…they might still be playing.
They’re pretty good.
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