Portagers drop a pair to Spartans
By DYLAN SAVELA
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
Published: Friday, May 27, 2011
ONEKAMA — Thursday’s doubleheader with
Mason County Central was all about the little victories for Onekama.
Despite being swept at the hands of the Division 3 Spartans, the
Portagers knew they needed to clean some things up before districts
during their home field finale.
“They’re an outstanding team,” Onekama coach John Neph said of MCC
after the Portagers fell 10-0 and 15-5 in a pair of five-inning
games. “It’s one of the better teams we’ve played all year. They’re
very tough and we know there are some very tough teams coming up for
us in the districts, and we want to be competitive against teams
like that.
“The good thing about our guys is we knew we were playing a bigger
school, a great ball team, and we just kept playing.” Onekama
struggled to find its stride at the plate after being no-hit by
MCC's Tyler Schroeder in the opener and going hitless for the first
three innings of the nightcap. But, with two outs in game two’s
bottom of the fourth, senior Rease Heiler started a rally with a
liner to center field — the team’s first hit of the series.
Heiler’s knock was followed by Josh Jacobs’ RBI single and a hit by
Cordell Williams. Nick Osborn then lined a shot to right field that
plated two runs to break the day’s scoring drought and cut the gap
to 12-3.
“We didn’t get a hit until 10 innings into the doubleheader,” Neph
said. “But it was nice to peak at the end there, getting some hits
and doing some good things in the field.”
The Portagers’ scored two more runs in the fifth as Stephen Verrett
knocked a leadoff double and was in turn knocked in by a double off
the bat of Joe Eno. Eno later scored on a passed ball, but the
Onekama rally would end there.
In the series, Onekama was doomed by multiple-run innings, as MCC
had a four-run first and six-run fifth in the opener, and paced
itself with an 11-run second inning in the nightcap.
|
Onekama’s Rease Heiler
delivers a pitch against Mason County Central on Thursday. (Dylan
Savela/News Advocate)
“That first game, we played them close and
they just broke it open late,” Neph said. “You can only hold them down
for so long, you know?”
Onekama’s Joe Eno recorded two strikeouts in four innings of work in
game one before being relieved for the final inning by senior Jared
Miller.
In game two, Heiler made his first start all season and allowed five
earned runs with two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings of work.
“Rease Heiler pitched pretty well most of the last game,” Neph said. “We
wanted to throw him because it’s his senior year and last game at home.
Both Jared (Miller) and Rease (Heiler), for their last game on the
field, were involved in some real positive moments and that was nice to
see.
“Overall, I think we did OK,” he added. “We really need to tighten up
our defense in some areas. We expected them to hit the ball, we just
need to cut down on the errors.”
Article and photo by Dylan
Savela
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer |