Sports

JH Baseball: Tough start for Island’s junior Indians

ANNAMARIE RUSCICA PHOTO | Richard Ruscica in the season opener.

The Shelter Island Indians junior high squad is still looking for its first win, having lost the first three games of the season on April 29, May 5 and May 9.

Despite a strong performance early in their season opener on April 29, the boys were edged out by Hampton Bays, 6-5.

The Indians got on the scoreboard right away when lead-off batter Jack Kimmelmann and Billy Boeklen each scored runs in the first inning. Another two runs from Liam Cummings and Peter Kropf in the second inning helped the Islanders hold the lead through the first half of the game.

As the contest continued, however, “they started to chip away at us,” Coach Brian Doelger explained. Maksym Moros made it home in the sixth, but it wasn’t enough to stop a strong late-game rally by the Baymen, which put them over the top in the seventh inning. The Indians had the last licks, and though they were set up with runners on first and second base, they couldn’t get them home, and Hampton Bays left Fiske Field with a win.

One of the team’s strong points in the opener was their pitching, Coach Brian Doelger said. Tristan Wissemann had the mound for the first four innings, throwing two strikeouts and allowing just two runs. “He’s really good, a big time pitcher.” Rich Ruscica took over for the last three innings and threw one strikeout of his own.

Though it was a loss, Coach Doelger was pleased with the team’s performance: “We did a pretty good job, I was encouraged with the first game … we made almost every infield play.” The squad is a relatively young team; almost all of the players are 7th graders.

A familiar disadvantage for Shelter Island reared its head during this contest: a small player pool. Most schools have enough students to field more than one junior high team. On opening day, the Indians were playing Hampton Bays’ “purple” team, comprised entirely of 8th graders. There are 11 kids on the Island squad this year, about half the number their opponents fielded. Considering that they were playing older kids, Coach Doelger said, the Indians had a very strong game.

Having a team of all 7th graders has its advantages, though. “We basically get the whole team back next year, so I think that’s when we’ll start doing some damage,” Coach Doelger said.

There’s a girl on the team this year, Kenna McCarthy. Being a female in a male sport comes with its challenges — she has taken some ribbing from the 8th grade boys on the other teams, according to Coach Doelger, “but she’s tougher than them anyway,” he said with a smile.

Since the squad started practicing on March 28, the team has been working mostly on the fundamentals, Coach Doelger explained: “Infield and outfield practice, throwing to the cutoff man, footwork, base running and certainly conditioning.”

No matter how much they practice, it will be tough for the Indians to beat some teams -— they were overwhelmed by Pierson/Bridgehampton on Thursday, May 5, in an 18-0 loss. The visiting opponents “hit everything,” Coach Doelger explained, “and their pitcher threw strike after strike. I think they’re by far the best team in the league.”

With a weekend to lick their wounds, the Indians returned to Fiske Field on Monday, May 9 to battle Southampton. The Mariners got on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning with two runs and scored another run in the second inning.

The Indians were having trouble at bat for much of the game. Only two players got on base for the Indians in the first three innings: Wissemann made it to third base in the second inning, and Adrian Sulahian did too, in the third inning.

Despite their difficulties in the batting box, “We played great defense,” Coach Doelger explained. “They made all the plays they were supposed to” in the field.

The Indians also benefited from another strong performance from Wissemann on the mound, who pitched the entire game and threw four strikeouts. He even picked off a runner in the top of the sixth inning.

Junior varsity Coach Peter Miedema joined the junior high practice last week to show their pitchers the proper technique for picking off runners. It was nice to see that practice pay off, Coach Doelger commented.

The Indians didn’t earn their first runs until the fourth inning, when Boeklen crossed the plate, followed by Wissemann.

When they did get on base, they took advantage of their speed to manufacture runs. “We were stealing like crazy,” Coach Doelger said. Sawyer Clark scored a run in the fifth inning after stealing twice on consecutive pitches, tying the game up at 3-3.

The Mariners scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning, but Jack Kropf answered back with a run of his own in the bottom of the sixth. Three consecutive batters struck out during the Indians’ last licks, however, and the Mariners took home the win, 6-4.

The score of today’s game against Hampton Bays wasn’t available when the Reporter went to press. The Indians play Pierson/Bridgehampton today at 4 p.m. at Fiske Field.