Phoenix start season with sweeep of Glenville

Before for the sea­son began on Sat­ur­day, Ober­lin var­sity base­ball coach Lynn Gray was con­cerned how his team would react to the new bats. The Phoenix answered those doubts by crush­ing Glenville in both games of a doubleheader.

Ober­lin, a divi­sion three school, thumped the divi­sion one Tar­blood­ers 18-1 in the first game and 14-0 in the sec­ond. The Phoenix bats weren’t the only head­line, though, as the Ober­lin pitch­ers baf­fled the Glenville bat­ters all day long.

The Phoenix put the first game away early, scor­ing 15 runs in the first three innings. Ober­lin scored four in the first, seven in the sec­ond, and four more in the third.

Another con­cern Gray had was the team speed, but again the Phoenix allayed those fears as well. The team ran wild on the base paths, steal­ing 20 bases in the first game and 28 in the second.

The Glenville pitch­ers strug­gled to find the strike zone all day as they walked a total of 24 bat­ters in both games.

Prior to this sea­son, the National Fed­er­a­tion of State High School Asso­ci­a­tions banned the alu­minum bats teams had been using for years, due to safety con­cerns. Now all teams have to use BBCOR alu­minum bats, which don’t allow the ball to jump off the bat as quickly as in the past.

The Phoenix play­ers said the new bats feel more like wooden bats, and some of the play­ers have even decided to go back to the old wooden bats. Gray said he was con­cerned that hit­ting may suf­fer due to the change.

That sim­ply wasn’t the case for the Phoenix on Saturday.

In the first game, short­stop Matayo Wyman went 2-2 with a dou­ble, an RBI, and a walk. Wyman also stole five bases in the game, includ­ing steal­ing home in the first inning.

Catcher Liam McMillin went 2-3 with a dou­ble, a walk, and scored three runs. The junior cap­tain also stole three bases.

The Phoenix pitch­ing was also dom­i­nant, both starters threw com­plete games.

Game one starter Bran­don Pritt struck out 10 bat­ters, while only allow­ing one run, three hits, and four walks in four innings of work.

Drew Ran­dle­man then threw a com­plete game shutout strik­ing out nine bat­ters, three hits, and two walks in five innings.

The Phoenix next host Collinwood for a dou­ble­header on Sat­ur­day morn­ing. Game one starts at 11 a.m.

Posted by Scott Mahoney on Mar 29 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.