“He’s not overpowering; he’s got great control,” Covington Catholic baseball coach Bill Krumpelbeck said.
Krumpelbeck was talking about senior pitcher Eli Wagner before Thursday’s 35th District showdown with Beechwood. The Tigers, however, might disagree with the first part of Krumpelbeck’s pregame analysis – Wagner struck out 11 in the Colonels’ 5-3 win at Jerry Collins Field at Tom Berger Stadium.
“We like to move runners, we like to take one run at a time when we can,” Krumpelbeck said.
Beechwood coach Kevin Gray was impressed.
“Whew, Eli threw a great game,” Gray said. “He was mixing up his pitches, getting ahead. Really, he’d start us off with a fastball, sometimes curveball, sometimes a changeup.”
CovCath has been moving runners and taking runs in big bunches, and if you don’t think CovCath (26-2, 4-0 in district) has become the team to beat in the Ninth Region, here are some numbers: an 11-game winning streak in which the Colonels outscored their opponents, 80-32; a .323 team batting average going into Thursday; and a 1.50 earned run average with 205 strikeouts and 73 walks (they also own an 18-2 record against 9th Region opponents).
Wagner not only joined teammate Bradley Zekl with 7-0 records on the bump– he upped his strikeout total to 62.
Thursday was also a battle of left-handers – Wagner against Beechwood freshman Caleb Arrasmith.
“(Arrasmith’s) been pounding the strike zone,” Gray said. “He’s getting introduced to the big boys.”
It wasn’t the most auspicious introduction.
CovCath, ranked eighth in the state in the MaxPreps.com poll and 10th in the prepbaseballreport.com poll, made Arrasmith uncomfortable in the second inning. Alek Yuskevich’s double, Luke Pieper’s single and Jackson Reardon’t sacrifice fly were enough to give the Colonels a 2-0 lead.
Beechwood (19-10, 3-1) had a scoring chance in the second. Chase Flaherty reached first on an error and went to second on Sawyer Carlisle’s walk – and then watched Wagner strike out Matthew Cottengim and Arrasmith to end the threat.
“In the past, when I was younger, curveball was always my go-to,” Wagner said. “Last two years, it’s been, it’s more fastball (and) pounding the zone.”
CovCath catcher Vince DiTomasso turned in the defensive play of the night when he picked off Keagan Hutton to open the fourth.
In the fifth, CovCath pinch hitter Parker McKinley’s two-run single scored Charlie Dieruf and Marcus Suwinski. An inning later, Joseph Magary’s triple and Dieruf’s single made it 5-0 Colonels.
Beechwood finally scored in the seventh. Singles from Carson Welch, Carlisle and Shawn Sowder let the Tigers close to the final margin, but Dieruf retired Hutton for the 21st out and his fourth save.
“We kept fighting,” Gray said. “We had the go-ahead run at the plate; I’m proud of our guys for that. I think we learned we can play with them.”
COLONELS 5, TIGERS 3
BEECHWOOD — 000-000-3 – 3-4-1
COV. CATHOLIC — 020-021-x – 5-7-1
Arrasmith, Holt (5) and Welch; Wagner, Wermuth (7), Dieruf (7) and DiTomasso. WP-Wagner (7-0). LP-Arrasmith (4-2). Save: Dieruf (4). 3B-Magary (CC). 2B-Yuskewich (CC).
Records: Beechwood 19-10 (3-1 in the 35th District), CovCath 26-2 (4-0).
