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Reinartz homers, earns win on mound; Brady Beck adds 2 RBIs
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Tanner Reinartz Brady Beck
Gavin Young saw Rochester baseball coach Cory Good put the hit-and-run sign on during Friday’s game against Culver Academy at Bob Copeland Field.
Young knows that when the hit-and-run sign is on, you have to swing.
Kaleb Lutz, the baserunner on first, took off. Culver Academy pitcher Will Tennyson threw a high fastball. Young said the pitch was so high he typically would have taken it. But on a pitch on which he had to swing, Young leveled a go-ahead two-run homer that put the Zebras ahead for good en route to an 8-6 win.
Young also got the save on the mound after walking the first two batters and then waiting out a 30-minute lightning delay.
Young hit Jack Kaplan with a pitch with the bases loaded, which brought up leadoff hitter Jack Quigg with the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base. But Young got Quigg to ground to Carson Paulik at shortstop, who flipped to Brady Coleman at second for the game-ending forceout.
“They were laughing because I typically don’t walk that many guys, and then there were some cookies in the dugout, and we ate a few cookies, and we were ready to go,” Young said. “I just sat down and took a break, and we went back after it.”
Young said he expects to pitch more this season as a reliever.
“I’m a one-inning guy. They play the trumpets when I come in,” Young said, referring to the song “Narco” by Timmy Trumpet that is played at New York Mets games when ace reliever Edwin Diaz enters the game.
Tanner Reinartz preceded Young’s homer with a solo shot two batters prior to Young’s at-bat in the sixth.
Brady Beck also had two RBIs, including an RBI double on an 0-2 pitch in the second and a sacrifice fly to cap off the fourth-run fifth. Colton Ferverda also had a double and a run scored in the fifth.
Kaplan finished with an infield single and two RBIs for Culver Academy, and Ty Rakan and Jack Christiansen each added a hit and an RBI.
Taking advantage of an error on a pickoff throw from Reinartz, Culver Academy took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fifth.
Preston Jessen had an RBI squeeze bunt and Jack Christiansen lined an RBI double to right-center that eluded a diving Brant Beck.
Tennyson had retired five straight Rochester batters heading into the bottom of the fifth, but Reinartz cranked the first pitch over the left-center field fence to tie the game at 5.
“I thought the second time through seeing that guy (Tennyson), we just needed to wait and let the ball travel a little bit, and he did a very good job of that hitting that thing out to center,” Rochester coach Cory Good said. “So huge, yeah. Tied the game up, got him out of the losing column potentially there, so a big start for us right there.”
Tennyson then walked Jake Seuferer, and Lutz entered as a courtesy runner. That brought up Young.
“I’m pretty sure it was a hit-and-run call, so I had to swing,” Young said. “I knew it was gone off the bat.”
Ferverda then doubled and stole third as Brant Beck walked. Brant Beck was thrown out trying to steal second, but Brady Beck’s sacrifice fly to center made it 8-5.
Parker Casper pitched a scoreless top of the sixth, stranding two when he got Foster Stockton to ground into a forceout to retire the side.
Culver Academy scored in the first when Quigg scored on a wild pitch. They made it 3-0 in the second on Kaplan’s RBI infield single that he lined off the glove of Brady Beck at first base and Ty Rakan’s sacrifice fly.
Rochester scored twice in the bottom of the second on Brady Beck’s RBI double down the left field line and Casper’s sacrifice fly.
They scored twice more in the third to take their first lead. Culver Academy pitcher Maxwell Grundberg walked Paulik, Reinartz and Seuferer to load the bases. Young would drive home the first run when his fly to shallow left-center dropped and was turned into an RBI fielder’s choice with Culver Academy getting a forceout at third.
Brant Beck’s soft RBI grounder to the pitcher on the right side made it 4-3.
“Him and Brant are coming right along,” Good said of Brady Beck. “He had a long hiatus off baseball, and it just takes games and reps, and it’s hard to mimic that in practice until you get out here on the field. … We’re just learning as we go here, but I’m proud of the way those guys have picked up and gone with it.”
Reinartz retired nine out of 10 batters at one point until Foster Stockton’s one-out single in the fifth.
Rochester 8, Culver Academy 6
Culver Academy 120 020 1 – 6 7 2
Rochester 022 040 X – 8 4 1
WP – Tanner Reinartz (5 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K)
LP – Will Tennyson (2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K)
S – Gavin Young (1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 K)
2B – Jack Christiansen (CMA), Brady Beck (RHS), Colton Ferverda (RHS)
HR – Tanner Reinartz (RHS), Gavin Young (RHS)
