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Good: ‘I thought we battled until the end against two really good pitchers’
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Due to an electrical problem, the scoreboard at Bob Copeland Field was not operations for the Rochester baseball team’s opener against visiting John Glenn Tuesday.
A metaphorical power outage hindered the Zebras as they were held to four hits – all singles – in a 6-2 loss to the Class 3A, No. 5 Falcons.
Tarick McGlothin reached base three times on a single and two walks and scored both Rochester runs. Brayden Zink had a hit and an RBI, and Jake Seuferer and Luke Hunting each added a hit. Tanner Reinartz walked twice.
Joe Chrapliwy, who pitched a shutout against the Zebras on the same mound last May, got the win by allowing three hits and two earned runs in four innings. He walked four and struck out four. Brycen Hannah pitched three scoreless innings of relief for the save. He allowed one hit and two walks while striking out two.
“They’re the real deal, both him and Hannah,” Rochester coach Cory Good said of Charpliwy. “You look at Hannah on the mound, and he’s a big boy, just a great athlete. We’ve played these guys, now Hannah, all four years he’s been in school. Some of our guys play with him (in travel ball). They’re tough, but I thought we hung well. I thought we had good approaches at the plate, and I thought we battled until the end against two really good pitchers.”
Ethan Medina started for Rochester and took the loss. He allowed five hits and four runs (all earned) in three innings. Hunter Campbell held John Glenn scoreless in the fourth and fifth. Luke Hunting allowed a walk and a hit batsman to the two batters he faced before Gavin Young came in and pitched two more scoreless innings.
“We’re going to face a lot of really good opponents here in the next week and a half, and we’ve got to get guys out here and see where they’re at,” Good said. “We’ve got a handful of guys we feel comfortable in throwing out in varsity innings. I thought our pitchers threw really well today. I thought they threw a lot of strikes. … I think we had two hit-by-pitches and one walk. You know, we struck a fair amount of them out. They just had some really timely huge hits.”
Rochester graduated only Evan Elliott from a team that went 15-6 last season. Good was asked if there was a lot of competition within the team for Elliott’s spot in right field.
“Not only just his spot, but we’ve got competition all over the field. It’s tough to fill the lineup out. We’ve got freshmen and sophomores who are playing down on JV that are going to push some of these guys, so I think you’ll see a lot of different guys in different sports this year, riding the hot hand or the hot bat. … We feel comfortable with a lot of guys who can play varsity baseball for us right now.”
Zebra notes
Rochester traveled to Oak Hill for a scrimmage Friday. Per IHSAA rules, a scrimmage is four innings in length with each team sending 10 batters to the plate each half-inning. However, the scrimmage was canceled due to storms after two innings. Oak Hill has a turf field and will host a semistate on June 10.
“Their facilities are unbelievable,” Good said. “It’s awesome. I loved it. I texted Coach when we left and said, ‘We’ll come back here every single year.”
Rochester will play Eastern (Greentown) at 6 p.m. Friday at Eastern in the first round of the Howard County Invitational. They will play again at 11 a.m. Saturday against either Northwestern or Rossville. Eastern went 23-8 last season and won their Class 2A sectional.
In the JV game, Rochester defeated host John Glenn 8-1 behind Kaleb Lutz’s three hits and an RBI. Conner Dunfee had two hits and two RBIs, and Callen Ferverda had a hit and two RBIs. Drew Bowers walked three times and scored twice. Elijah Jackson walked twice. Carson Paulik had a hit, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Brady Gamble also had a hit and a walk. Dunfee and Colton Ferverda combined on a two-hitter on the mound. Dunfee walked three and struck out five in five innings, and Ferverda walked one and fanned one in two scoreless innings. Rochester scored five runs in the top of the first.
John Glenn 6, Rochester 2
John Glenn 301 002 0 – 6 8 2
Rochester 101 000 0 – 2 4 0
WP – Chrapliwy (4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K)
LP – Ethan Medina (3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 5 K)
2B – Chrapliwy (JG), Smith (JG), Miller (JG)
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