Grizzlies come back to the pack
Baseball team ended season 13-11 overall
Austin Webb is among a number of key contributors who should be back next year for Wadsworth’s baseball team. Photo by BRUCE BILLOW
It’s almost too easy to say a season like 2017 was bound to happen to Wadsworth’s baseball team. But it bears saying anyway. It was bound to happen.
The Grizzlies, simply put, had almost been too good for the past three seasons, winning nearly 90 percent of their games and tacking three Suburban League championship banners to the dugout wall – including the 2016 inaugural SL National Conference title in 2016.
So when the Grizzlies were a much more mortal 13-11 overall this season, 6-8 in the SL National, the earth was just tipping back onto its axis and percentages were evening out a bit.
The Grizzlies started out looking like they would pick up where they left off, winning 4-of-5 out the gate. Then came a lull and a four-game losing streak, which represented more losses than the team had in its last three regular seasons.
Wadsworth was 9-6 over the remainder of the season. Not the kind of winning the Grizzlies had been used to, but still nice in what was somewhat of a rebuild.
“I thought we finished the year playing much better than we started,” Wadsworth coach Greg Pickard said.
The Grizzlies will continue on without eight seniors. They include four-year contributors Craig Palidar and A.J. Robinson.
Palidar this season hit .351, scored 22 runs and drove in 14. He was a prototype leadoff hitter, and will be difficult to replace in that aspect, but maybe even more so behind the plate, where he has been a mainstay throughout his career.
Robinson was a solid offensive producer, batting better than .300 with a home run, 16 RBI and 14 runs. His production was anything but run-of-the-mill.
Also graduated are Steven Ahern, Luke Clinton, Blake Hallas, Michael Lallathin, Nick Landolph and Alex Scarrow.
“They were a hard working group that showed a lot of dedication over the last four years,” Pickard said.
The 2018 season, despite those losses, looks promising for the Grizzlies. They return a ton of pitching and some very accomplished offensive players.
Sophomore Brock Snowball hit a team-leading .403 with 22 runs. Junior Austin Manix was the team’s next-best hitter at .388. He drove in 16 runs and scored 13.
On the mound, Austin Webb was 3-2 with a 1.39 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 44 innings. Trey Shaffer (2-1, 2.13, 20K in 23 innings), Anthony Gannon (4-3, 2.53, 38K in a team-high 47 innings), Dylan Kubilis (2-2, 3.79, 15K, 24 innings) all should be back as well. That quartet represents 21 games’ worth of innings that should be back next season.
“We are very excited about the future of our program,” Pickard said. “We return a solid core group of players, both on the mound and offensively. We will have some holes to fill defensively and feel there will be some great competition over the offseason.”
The Grizzlies, simply put, had almost been too good for the past three seasons, winning nearly 90 percent of their games and tacking three Suburban League championship banners to the dugout wall – including the 2016 inaugural SL National Conference title in 2016.
So when the Grizzlies were a much more mortal 13-11 overall this season, 6-8 in the SL National, the earth was just tipping back onto its axis and percentages were evening out a bit.
The Grizzlies started out looking like they would pick up where they left off, winning 4-of-5 out the gate. Then came a lull and a four-game losing streak, which represented more losses than the team had in its last three regular seasons.
Wadsworth was 9-6 over the remainder of the season. Not the kind of winning the Grizzlies had been used to, but still nice in what was somewhat of a rebuild.
“I thought we finished the year playing much better than we started,” Wadsworth coach Greg Pickard said.
The Grizzlies will continue on without eight seniors. They include four-year contributors Craig Palidar and A.J. Robinson.
Palidar this season hit .351, scored 22 runs and drove in 14. He was a prototype leadoff hitter, and will be difficult to replace in that aspect, but maybe even more so behind the plate, where he has been a mainstay throughout his career.
Robinson was a solid offensive producer, batting better than .300 with a home run, 16 RBI and 14 runs. His production was anything but run-of-the-mill.
Also graduated are Steven Ahern, Luke Clinton, Blake Hallas, Michael Lallathin, Nick Landolph and Alex Scarrow.
“They were a hard working group that showed a lot of dedication over the last four years,” Pickard said.
The 2018 season, despite those losses, looks promising for the Grizzlies. They return a ton of pitching and some very accomplished offensive players.
Sophomore Brock Snowball hit a team-leading .403 with 22 runs. Junior Austin Manix was the team’s next-best hitter at .388. He drove in 16 runs and scored 13.
On the mound, Austin Webb was 3-2 with a 1.39 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 44 innings. Trey Shaffer (2-1, 2.13, 20K in 23 innings), Anthony Gannon (4-3, 2.53, 38K in a team-high 47 innings), Dylan Kubilis (2-2, 3.79, 15K, 24 innings) all should be back as well. That quartet represents 21 games’ worth of innings that should be back next season.
“We are very excited about the future of our program,” Pickard said. “We return a solid core group of players, both on the mound and offensively. We will have some holes to fill defensively and feel there will be some great competition over the offseason.”