By Yasir Khaleq, Christine Cao, and Viet Vu Staff Writers
A stellar pitching performance from Nathan Wilson (’18) proves not to be enough for the Barons on a day of lackluster offense and failure to grasp the basics on defense.
Edison notched the first run of the game in the second inning after what seemed like a routine fly ball turned into a double hit due to a lack of communication, allowing a runner on second base. That runner would eventually be batted in. This would be the only run of the game until the sixth inning, as the Barons countered their solid defense with a complete inability to produce anything meaningful on offense.
“[Our offense] has been god-awful. Our offense is just non-existent. You can’t win by scoring only one run a game. Its impossible to win in this league, or any league when you score one run. I feel bad for our starting pitching, because it’s like they’ve gotta go out and score a shutout, and if they don’t, we’re not giving ourselves a chance to win. That’s the disappointing part” said Head Varsity Coach Deric Yanasigawa.
To add to the ineffective offense, solid defense suffered from rookie mistakes, such as overthrows, dropped fly-balls, and missing ground-balls in the infield. These lapses in focus ultimately costed the Barons the game when an Edison runner on third base made an attempt to steal home, and the throw to home base missed the cut-off man and flew over the catcher’s head by about ten feet. This allowed the Edison runner to take home easy, and the run that would eventually win the game.
“Basic fundamentals were a problem defensively today. We sat back on the baseball, we missed the cut-off man that ended up costing us the game. If we hit out cut-off man, that runner stays at third, and then we bring Yang in to pitch to slam the door shut” said Yanasigawa.
Wyatt Mcginnis (’16) would come in at the top of the seventh inning to attempt to close out the game, but couldn’t find his rhythm. He was replaced by Justin Yang (’17) after about 20 pitches and three walked runners. Yang went on to strikeout an Edison batter to close the inning.
The Barons attempted a rally in the bottom of seventh inning, which seemed like a real possibility when Riley Hanson (’16) batted in Justin Mazzone (’17) for the only run of the game for the Barons to make it only a one run deficit. However, Conrad Villafuerte (’18) would go down swinging valiantly for the last out of the game.
Despite the loss and offensive failure, not everything was awful. Throughout the game, Wilson threw four strikeouts and gave up only two runs. His stature and composure on the mound is a huge positive to take away from a disappointing season for the Barons.
“Nathan Wilson has definitely been a bright spot this year- for sure. He’s a sophomore. Every single time he’s taking the ball he’s giving us a good outing. That is an absolute positive for our season” said Yanasigawa.
The Barons now have a record of 4-8 in league, and are out of playoff contention. This will hopefully be a sobering fact for the players, and lead to a change in focus to end the season.
“It’s a life lesson, a learning lesson to continue and finish a job, and not to quit, and to continue to do it 100 percent. That’s what I hope these guys continue to do. Us coaches are gonna continue to put in 100 percent, and we expect it to be the same from our players as well. I don’t expect us to play any less hard, in fact I expect us to play harder now that we’re out of playoff contention” said Yanasigawa.
