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It's Always Something
Former Lehman football coach Paul Neves knows the suffering of a losing season. "We're 1-11 and there's always one inning that seems to beat us."
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04/28/09 - Sonny Fulks/1570wptw.com
Don’t the idea that it’s monotonous. It’s not.
But Bruce Cahill is fast becoming accustomed to it...as another underclassman, junior Kyle Stover, pitched like Roy Oswalt against the Reds. Stover overwhelmed Stebbins 10-0 Monday afternoon for the Red Devils’ 13th win of the season.
He needed just 73 pitches to shut out the Indians in six innings. Twice he had innings of seven pitches or less. He struck three and didn’t issue a walk. In fact, for the season he’s yet to walk a batter. That’s how efficient Kyle Stover has been in his now 16 2/3 innings of work this year..
“We wanted to get him a start and an opportunity to get some innings and some work,” said Cahill. “We knew Kyle would throw strikes, but tonight was another pleasant surprise.
“We’re so much more aggressive at the plate than we were just three weeks ago. We’re not taking strike one and strike two, and we’re making the plays in the field."
Aggressive to the tune of 10 runs on 11 hits and for the second game in the a row the Tipp defense was error-free.
It was another in a series of pleasant surprises from Cahill’s suddenly indomitable young pitching staff. Coming on the heels of Saturday’s performances by sophomores Braden Price and Craig Koehler, Stover’s shutout stood as testimony to the recent effectiveness of the Red Devils’ starters. In the past three games, and 20 innings, they have surrendered just one run.
In fairness, Stebbins should not be confused with the ’27 Yankees, the Indians entering play on Monday with just one win in twelve decisions.
“It’s been a season of one inning a game that ends up beating us,” said coach Paul Neves. “We were ahead of Miamisburg 5-2 the other day in the fifth inning and got beat 21-9. We’re young and inexperienced and things like that have happened to us all year long.”
To illustrate Neves’ statement as a self-fulfilling prophecy, Tipp’s Camden Sauls came to the plate in the fourth inning of Monday night’s game with a 5-0 lead and two runners on base. On a 2-2 pitch from starter Brandon Hill, Sauls skyed a foul popup outside third base that Indians’ third baseman Nick Taulbee dropped for an error (his third of the game). On the very next pitch Sauls yanked his 8th home run of the season over the left field wall to extend the lead to 8-0. The Stebbins’ bus driver revved up the engine.
“I was concerned before the game that we wouldn’t look beyond this game and focus on bigger games later in the week,” said Cahill. “I told them…I want to see them play with the same intensity we had on Saturday. I want to see them succeed and put some positive stats beside their name. Believe it or not, I’m these guys’ biggest fan.”
“It’s a long shot for us to win the league now, but we still have some great things to play for,” continued Cahill. “We’re behind Bellefontaine and Kenton Ridge, but we have Kenton here Friday and we can make a big impression on people before the tournament draw.”
In the meantime, consider this. The Red Devils are a team with but three seniors, and a lot to play for in terms of anticipation for the future of the program. Even with a lot of baseball yet to play, you couldn't blame Bruce Cahill if he started dreaming about next year…already.
But for now, on Monday, he became Kyle Stover’s biggest fan. |
