Park Vista Runs Its Way To A 9-2 Victory Over University

Most baseball teams have a guy or two who are blessed with great speed. Their teams rely on them to get on base and create scoring opportunities.

This year’s Park Vista Cobras feel like they have a lot of guys who are capable of running at will, and in Monday night’s season opener they proved that. The Cobras were incredibly aggressive on the bases, manufacturing plenty of offense on their way to a 9-2 victory over University School in the Colts First Pitch Classic played at Coral Springs High.

Park Vista (1-0) amassed 11 stolen bases in all, as coaches gave their base runners the green light all night long.

Despite a solid performance overall, the Suns (0-1) quickly found themselves in an early hole that they struggled to climb out of. Nearly every time a Cobras batter reached base, he took off running and continued to keep the pressure up on the University pitchers and defense.

Suns Manager Dan Rovetto understood that the Cobras are a team with more experience playing together, and he felt that showed on Monday night. The chance to play such a strong competitor in a tournament environment was something the team knows will help them prepare for the tough season ahead.

“That’s obviously a quality ballclub there, and Larry Greenstein does a great job with them,” said Rovetto. “That’s probably one of the more talented teams we will face all year, and they exposed us on some things that we’ll have to work on tomorrow in practice. But it’s a long season and there are things we can clean up. We put some unnecessary pressure on ourselves, and playing the game correctly is something we’ll get better at on a daily basis.”

The Cobras players are amazed at how much speed this squad possesses, and the chance to score runs and help this team win is the only thing the batters are focused on. As junior Joey Ganord put it, the guys have accepted that the game is not about individual statistics but rather about scoring runs and building a big lead. If the opposing pitchers are not throwing strikes, hitters are more than willing to draw a walk and then be ready to run as fast as they can.

Ganord accounted for a pair of swiped bags on Monday night, after he reached base in all three trips to the plate. The first baseman had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run. Yet even though he knows this team can fly on the base paths, he admitted that he was surprised that his coaches even gave him the chance to steal bases.

Ganord had been popping out a lot lately, so his focus has been on hitting line drives to try and score runners. Both his hits were exactly that, and his first RBI came after he sent a slow roller deep to the shortstop and then got on board after the fielder was unable to secure the throw in his glove. The play scored Dakota Julya to put Park Vista up 2-0, after the second baseman lined a single to left field and stole second to get into scoring position in the bottom of the first.

Junior shortstop Matthew Mika helped set the tone by connecting on an 0-2 pitch and driving it deep to right-centerfield for a leadoff double, then stealing third on the first pitch to Julya and coming home on a throwing error on the play. Mika also swiped a pair of bases and scored in the sixth, finishing 2-for-4 on the night.

The Cobras added to their lead with the decisive runs in the bottom of the third. Austin Smith legged out an infield single to lead things off, and then gave way to courtesy runner Brandon Sharpe. After Sharpe wasted no time in swiping second, the Cobras executed a perfect hit-and-run as Ganord waited back to line the ball up the middle and easily allow Sharpe to come home with the winning run.

After Colin Smith walked and both runners pulled off a double steal to get into scoring position, Nyle Newland pushed Ganord across on an RBI groundout and Joey Innacone singled to center to score Colin Smith and push the lead to 4-0.

Park Vista added to that lead an inning later. Julya walked and then scored on an RBI triple on a shot deep to center from Tyler Barre, and Ganord drove another RBI single up the middle to send Barre across the plate.

The runs provided more than enough support for Cobras starter Austin Smith, who tossed four no-hit innings to earn the victory. The right-hander stymied the Suns offense, allowing just a pair of walks while recoding eight strikeouts on just 62 pitches.

After falling into a big hole, the Suns continued to battle back and avoid the shutout. Daniel Epstein broke up the no-hitter with a single to left field leading off the top of the fifth, and then scored as Matt Johnson reached on an error. Adam Sinkoe followed with a slow roller past the second baseman and Kyle Oren walked to load the bases. Brendan McKendry pulled the Suns to within 7-2 as he singled to centerfield to drive in Johnson, before Sinkoe was thrown out at the plate when he also attempted to score on the play.

“The guy that started for them is a pretty special player, but we were fortunate to have some quality at bats towards the end of the game,” said Rovetto. “If we clean up a couple of small things then it’s a much closer ball game. That’s a darn good team over there and it is going to be a great experience for us in the long term.”

Although the results were less than favorable in the box score, Rovetto was very pleased with the performance of his young starting pitcher, Evan McKendry. The right-hander took the loss after allowing three earned runs in three innings of work, before reliever Jesse Crosno came on to close out the final three frames.

“Evan McKendry is a sophomore, he just turned 16 years old last week, and he competed his butt off out there tonight,” said Rovetto. “There were a couple of time he couldn’t finish in the end, but I thought he threw the ball pretty darn well. He’s going to be successful for us this year, and getting his feet wet in this situation is only going to be beneficial for us. He absolutely competed and went right after hitters, and it’s just a matter that we have to finish off those hitters when we get ahead in the count.”

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