MUSKEGON — Pitchers, the saying goes, are always ahead of the hitters early in a baseball season, but Montague would have preferred Reeths-Puffer pitching not be quite as far ahead as the Rockets proved to be in Monday’s season opener.
Starter Brayden Mitchelson and reliever Trent Reichert combined to strike out 16 Montague batters Monday, helping steer the Rockets to a 5-3 victory in which every run was scored in two half-innings.
The Rockets put together a five-run rally in the bottom of the fifth inning, getting two runners in scoring position with one out and playing solid situational baseball from there. Ethan Frang opened the scoring with a RBI groundout, hitting the ball to second base. The Wildcats had the infield in with hopes of getting an out at the plate, but after they weren’t able to field the grounder cleanly, had to settle for the out at first.
R-P took advantage of the opportunity, as Landyn Wilson drove in a second run with a flare single to the outfield. Later in the inning, a run came across on a passed ball, and Holden Earnest delivered a two-run single in the same at-bat.
“We learned from the mistakes that we made in the earlier innings and put ourselves in a situation to be able to hang a crooked number on the board,” Rockets’ coach Butch Attig said. “I was very happy with that. When you get a win in the first game and you’re outside, you’re always happy with it, but any team in their first game, second game, third game, you have things you can work on. You have things you can improve. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Montague entered the sixth without having gotten a runner into scoring position against Mitchelson, but he was lifted after five innings, Attig not wanting to run up his starter’s pitch count early in the season. Attig said Mitchelson did a terrific job incorporating his curveball Monday, which heightened the effectiveness of the fastball.
The Wildcats quickly turned the tide against Reichert, the hurler coach Jeff Moss expected to see start the game. A pair of Montague batters got on base, and Bryton Belinger connected on a fastball for a three-run homer to get his team back in the game.
That proved to be the one blemish for R-P pitching on the day, as Reichert kept Montague at bay from there to finish the game.
Although the Rockets fanned 16 Montague hitters, Attig said the team’s pitching focus will usually be to count on a solid, veteran defense. Apart from one instance of an outfielder overrunning a bloop single, the Rocket defenders appeared in midseason form.
“Defensively we’re a solid baseball team, so pound the zone, let them put the ball in play, and we’ll get better as we go,” Attig said. “It’s been the best start in my seven years as a varsity coach here that I think we’ve had... I think the knowledge is there and they understand that. So I think we’re leaps and bounds (ahead of) where we were before.”
For Montague, the Belinger home run was a bright spot, and the struggles at the plate were not all that surprising given the youth the Wildcats have; by the end of the game, Moss said, Montague had a freshman in at catcher and sophomores at three other spots on the field. The team doesn’t have any senior starters, though Belinger and others are varsity veterans. A big factor for the young Wildcats will be confidence, which can be shaken after a 16-strikeout game. However, Moss is optimistic his team will bounce back once conference action begins after spring break.
“The first thing I went out there and said was, ‘Okay, it looks like we’ve got to get back on the tee work and do some more hitting in the cages,’” Moss said. “We’re going to get better. Every day we’ll get better and work on small things. We’ve just got to build their confidence up. When they strike out that many times, you’ve just got to take them in the corner and talk to them, talk them off the ledge, so to speak. They’ll be fine.”
