Port Clinton rocks Fremont Ross in baseball opener
PORT CLINTON – Momentum is a wave. If you're on top of it, you can ride it a long way.
But if the wave is crashing down upon you, it can be all but impossible to halt.
As the Port Clinton and Fremont Ross baseball seasons opened up Monday afternoon, the Redskins grabbed a hold of the ever-elusive momentum and never let it go. The Little Giants, however, fell victims to the power of the wave.
Port Clinton batted around the order in back-to-back 5-run innings as the Redskins defeated the Little Giants 10-3 in a season-opener as fun for Port Clinton as it was disappointing for Ross.
"I saw a team that came prepared," Port Clinton coach Tracy Bodi said. "The hard practices paid off. They took the approaches at the plate we've been working on and made adjustments for the third inning on and put some pressure on the their team. It was just a real solid team effort."
Port Clinton (1-0) has little time to bask in the win as the Redskins travel to Sandusky Tuesday afternoon. Ross (0-1) plays Tuesday at Clyde.
"I'm very disappointed with how we came out today to start the year," Ross coach Mark King said. "What I didn't see was execution, straight-up. It wasn't from a lack of working on it. Mentally, I didn't think we were where we should have been."
Ross opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, including an RBI double from Travis Brown. Port Clinton starting pitcher Trevor Frias rebounded from a bumpy first two innings to throw a solid game for the Redskins. He threw more than 100 pitches over six innings, allowing just three hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
He got solid help from his defense, including a nice inning-ending 4-6-3 double play from Aidan Rspert, Drew Foder and Trevor Monk to end his day after the sixth inning.
"Trevor struggled the first two innings with the strike zone but only gave up two (runs)," Bodi said. "We had two big pick-offs at second base and he only got stronger. Everybody played defense behind him and it was a really good team effort."
The Redskins rallied from their early deficit in a big way in the third inning as their first eight batters reached base safely. After Port Clinton tied the game with a pair of runs, Foder cleared the bases with one swing. He launched a ball over the fence in left field for a three-run home run and a 5-2 lead.
"That gave us some energy," Foder said of his home run. "It had a little bit of pop off of it. I had to battle back, got down 0-2. He left one up and it was off from there."
Following Port Clinton's big inning, Frias then struck out the Little Giants in order, quickly putting the Redskins back to bat where they continued the onslaught.
"That's where we didn't respond," King said. "We had to come out and set some kind of tone and we took a called two called-third (strikes) and a swinging third. You have to come out aggressive and put yourself back in the game."
Port Clinton again batted around the order. RBI base hits by Scott Stone, Max Avis and Nolen Smith helped the Redskins grow their lead to 10-2.
Once again, Ross followed Port Clinton's big offensive output by being retired in order.
Dominic Cominsky took the loss on the mound for the Little Giants as Ross pitchers combined to give up 10 runs on seven hits and nine walks while the defense committed four errors.
"I have a lot of confidence in our kids. We'll be fine," King said. "I thought we were more prepared than we showed today but it's a long season."
rmcgowan@gannett.com
419-334-1043
Twitter: @RMcGowan1
