Baseball: Newman bats dominate vs. Sterling

STERLING – The Newman Comets hit the ball hard and found the gaps. The Sterling Golden Warriors hit the ball hard and found Newman gloves.

The Comets scored in every inning in a 24-3, four-inning win Wednesday at Gartner Park, as eight different players had RBIs and every player in the lineup had at least one hit.

“It’s just awesome seeing everybody hit like that,” junior Brendan Tunink said. “It’s especially good against them. We’re rivals – not really, more friendly rivals – but it’s Sterling vs. Sterling, basically. It was a big win for us, and it’s awesome to see us finally putting all the hits together that we need.”

[ Photos from Newman vs. Sterling baseball ]

After Newman (13-7) scored a run in the top of the first on an error, Sterling (6-18) came up and had three potential hits taken away. Dylan Ottens’ blooper was tracked down by second baseman Garret Matznick with a running over-the-shoulder catch in short right field, then Miles Nawrocki’s smash into left-center field was tracked down by Brendan Tunink with a diving catch. Trevor Dir then roped a hard line drive to third, but Garet Wolfe snagged it for the third out.

That’s when the Newman bats went to work. Daniel Kelly drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single, then another run scored on an error and Kelly came in on a wild pitch. Jaesen Johns ripped a two-run triple to the fence in right-center, and he scored on Nolan Britt’s single up the middle for an 8-0 lead.

“I think that it’s extremely contagious. It just boosts the confidence when you see one guy get a hit, then the next guy, then the next guy; it’s just a big snowball effect,” Johns said.

Sterling answered in the bottom of the second. Ayden Schoon singled and Drew Nettleton doubled to lead off the inning, then Schoon scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Braden Hartman, but no out was recorded on the play.

After Newman starter Kyle Wolfe struck out the next two hitters, Braden Birdsley ripped a two-out RBI double down the right-field line to drive in Nettleton, then Hartman scored on a two-out error to cut the deficit to 8-3.

“We talk a lot about trying to get our guys to believe that the opponent is the game of baseball, are we better today than we were yesterday. In some aspects, we were; I thought we hit a lot of barrels offensively, we really did,” Sterling coach Darwin Nettleton said. “Then in the second inning we scored three runs and we’re back in it.”

But the Comets pulled away from there. Matznick and Kyle Wolfe had RBI hits, then courtesy runner Austin Van Landuit scored on an error. Jaesen Johns bounced a ground-rule double over the fence in left-center, putting runners on second and third, and Britt hit a ground ball to drive in Tunink; Britt reached on an error on the play. Courtesy runner Caleb Donna scored on a balk, then Joe Oswalt plated Britt with an infield single to the right side for a 14-3 margin.

The fourth was more of the same. Tunink started that 10-run onslaught with a two-run home run to right field, then Oswalt, Matznick, Johns and Garet Wolfe added two-run singles later in the inning.

“We finally pulled it together this game,” Oswalt said. “All this week, we’ve been just missing the ball or hitting into outs. But today, we finally pulled it together, hit with some confidence, and found gaps to get on base. It’s very fun, enjoyable for the whole team.”

Johns was a homer shy of the cycle, finishing 4 for 5 with four RBIs; Donna scored four runs as his courtesy runner. Oswalt was 3 for 4 with two runs and three RBIs, Garet Wolfe was 3 for 4 with two runs and two RBIs, and Matznick was 2 for 3 with three runs and three RBIs for Newman. Britt scored twice and drove in a pair of runs, Kelly had two singles, two runs and two RBIs, and Isaiah Williams scored twice. Tunink homered, reached on an error and walked twice while scoring four runs, and Kyle Wolfe had a single, double and an RBI, and Van Landuit scored three runs as his courtesy runner.

The top seven batters in Newman’s lineup each reached base four times, while Williams was on three times and Kelly twice. Every spot in the order scored at least two runs, and seven Comets had at least two RBIs. Newman sent at least 11 batters to the plate in each of the final three innings.

“It’s really exciting when you go up there and see a guy standing on second or third with a chance to drive him in; it gives you more of a feeling that you want to get them in, you want to do it for the team,” Johns said. “It’s just a great feeling.”

“Unfortunately, when we missed in the middle of the plate, they hit the ball hard and in gaps or spots where we weren’t,” coach Nettleton said.

Other than the second inning, Kyle Wolfe allowed just one other baserunner, on a two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth.

After the first inning, the Warriors had five other hard-hit balls that went right to Newman fielders, ending up as outs instead of hits for their own big innings to keep up with the Comets.

“I don’t know if that’s the funny thing about the game, maybe,” coach Nettleton said. “It wasn’t our day today, and I guess that’s how the cookie crumbles.”