PREP ROUNDUP: Venice High baseball snaps seven-game losing streak

SARASOTA — Craig Faulkner does not remember one of his Venice High baseball teams going through a seven-game losing streak.

“I don’t think so,” Faulkner said.

He does not have to think about it any more.

Venice scored a run in each of the first two innings and rode some strong pitching and the return of its captain and shortstop Marek Houston to defeat Riverview, 4-1, Friday night in a Class 7A-District 8 game at the Rams field at Suncoast Technical College.

“It was a big win tonight, and we had a lot of guys do some great things,” Faulkner said. “We’re coming on, coming on, coming on.”

Venice won for the first time since beating Bartow High on March 4, a span of 21 days. It was not as if Venice was getting blown out. The combined score of those losses was 29-11.

“I felt like we could have won every game,” Faulkner said. “One or two games we got beat. Other times we beat ourselves.

“They did not get down. Everybody wanted to win. They weren’t pouting.”

Venice scored four runs for the third straight game. This time the pitching of Nate Winterhalter, Simon Yochum and John Whitney made it stand.

“It felt really good,” Whitney said. “After a seven-game losing streak, it felt good to get a win. We kept putting pieces in the puzzle, we just couldn’t get the actual picture. Today, we got it and we know what to do now.”

After ending its three-game losing streak with a win over Lakewood Ranch High on Wednesday, Riverview now has dropped four of five.

“It’s Venice. Venice is always going to be ready. I knew that coming in,” Riverview coach Jeremy Schmidt said. “We’re going to get them again and we’re going to get them in the playoffs. We’ve just got to keep battling.”

Faulkner said it was important to at least one person on the Venice side to end the skid.

“It’s important to me,” he said. “I like being on the right side of it.

“We’re going to be a good team. We have six or seven new players on the field and they are figuring it out. We’re going to be a team that’s going to be tough to deal with when it comes time.”

Both teams will play in the IMG Invitational at 4 p.m. Tuesday: Venice against Life Prep of Wichita, Kansas, and Riverview against North Cobb Christian of Kennesaw, Georgia.

Venice takeaways

• After being struck with a pitch in the preseason, Houston worked his way back into the lineup Wednesday at Sarasota. He played shortstop, but only bunted at the plate. Friday from his familiar No. 3 spot in the lineup, Houston swung away and provided a run-scoring triple in the seventh inning and crossed on a wild pitch. “We need a 3-hole hitter in the lineup, and it paid off big for us,” Faulkner said. “He’s such a good player, and you miss a guy like that. One player does make a big difference. Our captain is back. It makes our lineup so much better. One guy makes a huge difference in the lineup.”

“That was huge,” Whitney said. “Everyone’s confidence just goes up knowing they have him, especially the pitchers.”

• Whitney, a hard-throwing left-hander, came on from center field, following two right-handed sidewinders to the mound. The senior got the final seven outs, five on strikeouts. He allowed one hit. Of his 21 pitches, 16 were strikes. All were fastballs. “I’m more of a pound-the-zone type of guy,” Whitney said.

“Really proud of how Whitney as a senior pitched tonight, 21 pitches, 16 strikes, and probably throwing 90,” Faulkner said. “He’s pretty special when he gets out on that mound.”

• Whitney also set the tone as the leadoff hitter, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in. He led off the game with a bloop single, was sacrificed to second by Nick Dunn and scored on a two-out single by Cole Schumaker. After Stephen Deans’ two-out double in the second inning and a walk to Brady Schumaker, Whitney singled to the right-center field gap to make it 2-0.

Riverview takeaways

• The Rams were stymied by sidewinders Winterhalter and Yochum early before being blown away by Whitney. “Sidearmers, it’s something you don’t see,” Schmidt said. “They do it. That’s their thing. We’ve got to figure it out.”

• After hitting into inning-ending double plays in the first and third innings, Riverview got on the board in the fourth to cut the deficit in half. Chris Barr reached on an infield single and was sacrificed to second by Dylan Wilds. After a walk to Cooper Backman, Cooper Bowditch singled to right. Yochum replaced Winterhalter and needed one pitch to get out of the inning. “It’s not capitalizing,” Schmidt said. “We’re not getting key hits.”

• Sameon Klanot saved the Rams’ bullpen and kept Riverview in the game until the end with his relief pitching. The junior right-hander got the final out of the second inning and completed the game. He surrendered two hits from the third to sixth innings before giving up two runs on two hits in the seventh. “Sam pitched awesome,” Schmidt said. “He deserved to win that game. He kept us in the game. He put up all those zeroes. The last inning he got gassed. He did everything we wanted. Sam did what a reliever is supposed to do: He gave us an opportunity.”

Braden River 2, Bradenton Christian 1

AT: Braden River

TOP PLAYERS: BR, Ryan Kaitz (1-2, run, RBI), Logan Waldschmidt (1-2, 2B); BC, Isaac Meekhof (3-4), Jackson Easto (2-4), Caleb Clover (2-4)

PITCHING: BR, Cesar Valera (6 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 0 earned, 2 walks, 8 Ks); Andrew Nordland (1 IP, 2 hits); BC, Isaac Meekhof (6 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, 9 Ks)

OF NOTE: Braden River scored a run in the fifth inning to break a 1-all tie when Kaitz scored on a passed ball.

SOFTBALL

Tampa Catholic 4, Riverview 1

AT: Eddie C. Moore Complex, Clearwater

TOP PLAYERS: R, Zoe Lipton (1-2, 1 RBI), MIchelle Dipuma (1-3, 3B, RBI)

Steinbrenner 11, Riverview 0

AT: Eddie C. Moore Complex, Clearwater

OF NOTE: Steinbrenner pitched a perfect game against Riverview.

BOYS WEIGHTLIFTING

Sarasota County Meet

Team scoring: 1. Venice 66, 2. Riverview 62, 3. North Port 35, 4. Sarasota 18, 5. IMG Academy 15, 6. Cardinal Mooney 14, 7. Booker 10

First-place winners traditional (bench and clean and jerk)

119: Tyler Moya (NP) 320; 129: Rylan Kriska (V) 355; 139: Dabien Reitz (Riv) 425; 154: Wyett Rightmire (IMG) 510; 169: Olajuwan Mitchell (Sara) 465; 183: JR Rosenberg (CM) 550; 199: Logan Ballared (V) 555; 219: Max Kollar (Riv) 635; 238: George Philip (V) 620; Hwt.: Jonathan Petty (Riv) 660

Manatee County Meet

Snatch team champion: 1. Braden River

First place winners snatch

119: S. Kerzian (SE); 129: F. Flores-Martinez (SE); 139: A. Livingston (SE); 154: Jackson Ellis (Pal); 169: Kale Bunch (Pal); 183: Brendan Gitt (BC); 199: Tanner Wolfe (BR); 219: Aiden Dangler (BR); 238: Rylee Jackson (Pal); Unl.: Albert Dowling (BR)

Traditional team champions: 1. (tie) Braden River, 1. (tie) Palmetto

First-place winners traditional (bench and clean and jerk)

119: Dominic Meyers (Bay); 129: Jayden Munoz (LW); 139: Tyler Stulz (Pal); 154: Aiden Zimmerman (LR); 169: Kale Bunch (Pal); 183: Chris Thomas (SE); 199: Gabril Thomas (Pal); 219: Aidan Dangler (BR); 238: Jake Robinette (BC); Hwt.: Alex Colas (BR)

BOYS LACROSSE

Community School of Naples 15, Venice 3

AT: Community School of Naples

TOP PLAYERS: V, Jack Clarkson (goal), Kai Miller (goal), John Piroli (goal)

GOALIE: V, Alex Ptaszek (16 saves)

RECORD: Venice (2-5)

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: PREP ROUNDUP: Venice High baseball snaps seven-game losing streak