Baseball

Written by: Cameron Warner '11

          The 2011 Varsity Baseball Season started with opening day on April 2^nd at Carelton - Airport High School for back to back to back games against Airport, Southgate Anderson, and Pinconning. The greyhounds started the day against Airport where they played very well for their first game of the season it was tied until an inning where mental mistakes and inconsistent pitching took its toll on the team. The final ended up 14-4 Airport winning. The greyhounds would eventually drop 2 more that day but with a lot of positive things coming out of it.

          The following Thursday a game at Alma was canceled and a week later it was time for the home opener against Lansing Eastern. Eaton Rapids won both games in that doubleheader 6-3 and 5-1, with dominant pitching in game one by Tommy Hollandsworth and game two by Zach Laginess.

           In the nine days following three straight doubleheaders were canceled due to rain and cold. The Greyhounds picked it back up in the Jeff Rochester Tournament where the team showed up at 7:30 in the morning to get the flooded field ready by using water pumps and shop vacs to clear water off the field. 3 teams backed out of the tournament due to the conditions but Eaton Rapids was still able to play against Bay City John Glen and Troy, losing both games to the very talented teams.

           The Greyhounds backed up the losses with a sloppy 10-7 win over Everett but a win none the less. The nightcap game of the doubleheader was called due to darkness after the 4^th inning so therefore it didn’t count, E.R was up 2-1 when it got called.

           The Greyhounds are young but very talented and with a little more consistency from their pitching staff they are sure to make a run in districts at the end of the season. “I told myself at the beginning of the season that this was one of the most un-team teams I’ve ever coached” said Coach Zubal. Meaning that this particular group of guys haven’t played a whole lot together over the years.

            Coach Zubal also stated “It’s my job as a coach to bring the guys together as a team and it’s going well so far, This team will go as far as the five seniors will take it.” The five seniors being, Trent Pell, Mitch Smith, Cameron Warner, Matt Althouse, and Andrew Benkovsky.

            Eaton Rapids next home game is May 5^th against Portland High School