New Boston Huron's four aces too much for Jefferson to overcome
Who’s No. 1?
Don’t ask Phil Yancey. He won’t tell you.
“We have four No. 1s,” the New Boston Huron baseball coach said when asked about his starting rotation.
Yancey said Luke Coll, Cole Grunwald, Gavin Moczdlowsky and Micah Smith all deserve the right to be called Huron’s ace.
VIDEO: New Boston Huron at Jefferson baseball
Coll and Grunwald certainly looked like aces Thursday during a sweep of a Huron League doubleheader against Jefferson.
Coll tossed a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts in winning the opener 11-0 and Grunwald yielded three hits and fanned 11 to take the nightcap 5-0.
“We have good competition in our pitching rotation,” Yancey said. “They feed off each other. … We actually have five. We also have Chad Martin who throws 84 or 85 (mph), but we don’t use him that much. But he’s a sophomore.”
Martin will get a chance to be part of the Big Four next year when Huron figures to be loaded again. Grunwald is the only senior in the starting rotation. Coll and Moczydlowsky are juniors and Smith is a sophomore.
Coll said Thursday was the first seven-inning shutout of his career.
“I’ve had five-inning ones before, but not seven,” he said.
That basics were working best for him against Jefferson.
“I really felt like I was getting ahead with the fastball, then worked in my curve and slider,” he said.
It was the same for Grunwald.
“My fastball was working well,” he said. “I was locating it well, then using my curveball on and off. … As long as I make them put the ball in play, then our defense makes plays.”
Grunwald admitted that he was driven to succeed in the second game Thursday after watching Coll’s performance in the first.
“We have a lot of really good pitching,” he said. “It’s not really competition. We all want the others to do well, but mentally if one of us has a great game, we want to have a great game.”
The formula has worked great this season.
Huron boasts a 21-2 record against a stacked schedule.
“We’ve basically played all Division 1 teams or state-ranked teams in Division 2,” Yancey said.
Huron is closing in on the school record of 27 wins it set last spring and leads the Huron League with a 11-1 record. Grosse Ile and Riverview have two league losses and must play a doubleheader against each other.
VIDEO: New Boston Huron at Jefferson baseball Game 2
Huron finishes with games against Milan and Flat Rock.
That’s why Thursday’s sweep was crucial.
Jefferson stayed close most of the day. Huron nursed a 2-0 lead through the first four innings of the opener, then broke it open with three runs in the fifth and six in the seventh.
Rory Callahan, Jayden Morse and Isaac Smith had two hits each and Moczydlowski drove in three runs.
Micah Smith led the offense in the second game, going 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. Callahan and Conner Grant added two hits each.
Yancey has been impressed with the mental sharpness of his players.
“No offense to the other teams, but it’s tough to keep a team like this motivated,” he said. “They have stayed focused.”
Tyler Bondy, who played for Jefferson’s state championship team in 2002, is in his first season of coaching his alma mater.
He knew his team was in for a tough assignment Thursday.
“They are tough,” he said. “Obviously they pitch really well. … Those are probably the best two pitchers we’ve seen all year.”
Bondy liked the way his squad battled. The Bears were not mercied in either game.
“In both games, we played four to five to six innings of solid baseball,” he said. “It was just one or two errors that hurt us.”
Alec Albain went 3-for-5 in the doubleheader and Ryan Gennoe pitched well in the second game for the 7-12 Bears.
“We need to start raising the bar,” Bondy said. “We’re trying to do things the right way.”
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: New Boston Huron's four aces too much for Jefferson to overcome
