Coleman, Beck combine on 5-hitter, help Rochester top Culver Academy

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brady Coleman Brant Beck

Brady Coleman and Brant Beck combined on a four-hitter to help the Rochester baseball team beat visiting Culver Academy 4-1 at Bob Copeland Field Friday.

Beck, Parker Casper, Zakk Parks, Callen Ferverda and Liam Spence each had a single for Rochester. Carson Paulik had an RBI.

Culver Academy pitchers also walked five and hit a batter.

Rochester scored a run on an error, a run on a balk and two runs on wild pitches.

Rochester improved to 4-5. Culver Academy fell to 0-3.

Even though the offense was not as productive as they were during an 11-6 win at Plymouth Tuesday, coach Cory Good approved of the plate approach against Culver Academy senior pitcher Jak Chaney.

“I think our offensive approach was incredible,” Good said. “We got Chaney to throw 30 pitches in the first inning and 24 in the second. We got him to 54 pitches through two, and it was just pressure on them. I think we messed up his timing, making it tough on him to get into a rhythm. And that was our goal today, making it uncomfortable for him, and I thought we did a good job of that.”

Culver Academy trailed 2-0 after four innings, but Max Grube’s RBI single halved the deficit in the fifth, and the Eagles would load the bases with one out.

Coleman then got Nathan Cawley to ground to Linden Wilburn at third, who threw to the plate for a forceout. Coleman then struck out Josh Walczak swinging to retire the side.

Coleman had not pitched in over two weeks, but coaches reminded him of last year’s 5-4 loss to Culver Academy in eight innings as motivation.

“I felt great,” Coleman said. “I’ve been dreading this moment for a long time since Lafayette Jeff, pitching only one inning (April 2). (Assistant coach Bryan) Holcomb and (assistant coach Todd) Beehler were really trying to hype me up a little bit and getting ready for this game has just been on the calendar for some time now, and getting back from last year.”

In the bottom of the fifth, Casper shook off being hit in the helmet with a Maxwell Grundberg pitch and advanced to second when Paulik walked.

As Beck batted, Paulik took off for second while Casper stayed at second. Cawley got out of his crouch behind the plate and ran at Casper and Paulik, who were just about standing next to each other. Cawley eventually caught Casper trying to steal third with Paulik taking second. Paulik took third on a wild pitch. Beck walked and stole second. Paulik scored on a balk, moving Beck to third. Beck then scored on a wild pitch.

Beck relieved to start the sixth and retired the first five batters he faced. He walked Grundberg, and Grundberg advanced to second on a wild pitch before Beck struck out Grube to end it.

“We haven’t lost any confidence, but I think we’re gaining some confidence here in these last couple games,” Good said. “You know, just beating good, quality opponents. CMA gave us our first loss last year. So guys were ready to go tonight and give them back one.”

After Grundberg led off the game with a single, Coleman retired the next three batters.

Rochester scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first off Chaney.

Coleman walked and stole second. He advanced to third when Casper reached on an error on a slowly hit grounder down the third baseline and scored when Paulik reached on another error on a grounder to third.

Beck lined a single off the glove of the third baseman to load the bases, but Conner Dunfee popped to short, and Chaney struck out Parks and Braylon Smith to get out of further trouble.

Spence singled to lead off the second and went to second on Coleman’s sacrifice bunt. He moved to third when Casper reached on an infield single on a grounder in the hole on the left side and scored on a wild pitch.

Coleman then got a break in the third. Freshman Will Harris appeared to double just inside the left field line, but Rochester players and coaches believed that Harris did not touch first base on his way to second. Before throwing another pitch, Coleman threw to first on an appeal play, and the base umpire called Harris out.

Coleman said assistant coach Kyle Reinartz noticed from the dugout that Harris missed first and alerted the players.

“That was big,” Coleman said. “Because he gave me a little bloop shot there and threw off my rhythm there. I didn’t really realize he stepped off first base, but getting that out’s huge, getting my rhythm back and stuff like that.”

Coleman then got Grundberg on a pop to short to end the inning.

In the fourth, Coleman got Grube to foul out to Wilburn at third and Cawley to ground to Paulik at short. After going the first 3 ⅔ innings without a walk, he then walked Walczak and Jack Kaplan consecutively before striking out Andrew Oliver-Overmyer on a pitch in the dirt.

Rochester 4, Culver Academy 1

Culver Academy 000 010 0 – 1 4 2

Rochester 110 020 X – 4 5 0

WP – Brady Coleman (5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K)

LP – Jak Chaney (4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K)

XBH – (none)