After a rough start to the season consisting of five consecutive losses, the baseball team is concluding its disappointing regular season strong with a 16-0 victory at Kennedy May 7 and a 6-5 home victory over Clarksburg May 5, improving its record to 6-11.
CHS dominated the batter’s box against Kennedy as junior Danny Weiss hit one-for-one with a bases loaded triple while Junior Nick O’Brien also had a triple, along with one double in the win. The two consecutive wins will give the Bulldogs some momentum as playoffs approach, allowing the bitter taste of the its early season struggles to subside.
“We had a rough start because we needed leadership and organization,” sophomore Hunter Strang said. “The team has not performed well so far, but we are building chemistry and we will continue to improve.”
After going through the first three games only scoring one run and batting a team average of .160, the team bounced back and was able to average over eight runs per game during its short three-game winning streak to get its first victories of the season going into spring break. Since then, the team has only won three of its last nine games, including a 15-5 victory over Springbrook at home April 27.
“We have underperformed this year in relation to the goals we’ve set out for them,” head coach Scott Blackwood said. “At times we see their potential and other times they aren’t playing to their full potential.”
Weiss leads the charge offensively, batting an impressive .457 and also leads the team in hits and RBI’s. Junior Ian Shemer has also been steady with the bat, having the team’s second highest batting average at .367.
Much of the pitching has been put onto juniors Kelby Spring and Matt Kogan. Spring has started nine games and leads the team in strikeouts with 27, while Kogan led the team to its road victory over rival Wootton April 14, only allowing one earned run.
“At this point our pitching staff has done a wonderful job,” Blackwood said. “If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have been in as many games as we have been.”
CHS is currently 3-3 in the conference holding fourth place in the 4A West Division as playoffs approach. The team concludes the season with one more non-conference game at home against Northwood May 9.
