New standouts emerge for Rootstown baseball
MANTUA — Mason Bartholomy was brilliant once the Rovers finally got a game in.
The Rootstown ace threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 17 batters he faced Tuesday, allowed just two baserunners and recording 11 strikeouts.
"I'm really proud of his effort," Rovers coach Keith Waesch said. "Not surprised, but extremely proud of how he tosses the baseball."
As brilliant as Bartholomy was in Rootstown's 9-0 victory over host Crestwood Tuesday afternoon, it was far from surprising given how he pitched last year.
So what was the biggest takeaway for the Rovers Tuesday?
How well Bartholomy's teammates played.
Indeed, perhaps the biggest moment Tuesday came in the first inning with the Red Devils on the verge of escaping what was then a five-walk frame trailing just 3-0. Up came Rovers sophomore Austin Biggin, making his varsity debut in a pivotal spot, with the bases loaded and two outs. After taking a couple of strikes, Biggin got a pitch up in the zone and belted a screaming line drive over the leaping second baseman to push the Rovers' lead to five.
"First two pitches, I just didn't like them, so I took them," Biggin said. "I figured I need to protect because this is a huge spot. If they get out of that, that's going to give them a ton of momentum, so I put my head to it, just choked up a little and saw a pitch I liked and drove it and it felt really good."
In his second varsity at-bat, Biggin repeated the feat, this time pulling a grounder wide of the second baseman for an RBI single.
"He has been hitting the ball extremely well in the cage indoors," Waesch said. "But [it's] nice to see him take it outside and [he] really had a huge game for us."
Biggin's third at-bat also led to a run as he drew a bases-loaded walk.
"Hitting-wise, I feel really confident," Biggin said. "I came off a strong season last year JV, and I just feel really good at the plate right now. I'm seeing everything well."
To top the day off, Biggin got a couple of innings of work in on the mound.
While the sophomore walked the first three hitters he faced, he demonstrated plenty of grit, as he got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam unscathed.
"Obviously, I didn't have my stuff," Biggin said. "Today felt off, but after coach came out and talked to me, I calmed down a little and put it in my head that I was not going to let any of them score and that's what I did."
Biggin then tacked on a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh.
"I think it'll give him some confidence moving forward," Waesch said. "Obviously, it started off tough with three walks, but he was able to settle down and work his way out of a jam and I'm really proud of him for that."
Biggin is just one Rootstown player poised to play a much bigger role this season — and he was just one of many Rovers players to impress while taking on an enhanced role Tuesday. Blake Bower was another.
Unlike Biggin, Bower isn't new to the varsity.
In fact, he led the Rovers in batting average last season.
Still, Bower was batting eighth in the order last year, whereas Tuesday, he hit third, a massive change that hasn't come easy, per Waesch.
"We're asking him to make a move from the eighth spot, where you see some better pitches because you're down lower in the order, to the three hole," Waesch said. "There's quite an adjustment there and he's struggled a little bit in the scrimmages so far that we had, but once again, he's the type of kid he'll come through."
Sure enough, after starting Tuesday 0-for-2, Bower blasted a pair of doubles.
"Three hitter is very important to me, very important to the team," Bower said. "I take huge pride in that and I try to do the best for my team to get good hits."
Both doubles were impressive, the first coming on a pitch that was on the outer part of the plate that Bower somehow powered into the left-field gap, the second coming on a pitch in on his hands that he again pulled deep into the gap.
Like Bower, Nathan Galambos is also making a big jump, from sixth to second in the order, and he responded by reaching base twice Tuesday.
"I didn't play basketball this year to work on baseball," Bower said. "Me and Nathan Galambos actually went to the cages at Gracie Field, like most of the days in the offseason, to hit some balls. So that really helped out."
Others like Tony Karp and Biggin were essentially making their varsity debuts, and Karp, like Biggin, impressed with two scorching liners for hits.
"We have three sophomores coming in," Batholomy said. "They're major to this because we lost like six people last year, and some of them were infielders, so they're taking a giant role first game."
Similarly, Justin Pratt, who was a role player on the varsity last year, responded well to his new role as a starter, joining Karp and catcher Jaggar Kokochak in recording back-to-back-to-back hits in the fourth.
"We want to get these kids some innings and some time," Waesch said. "I think they're capable of coming through."
All told, every Rovers starter reached base, with eight different players recording a hit.
"There's a lot of us going into huge role shifts," Biggin said. "We lost a lot of great seniors last year. Two of them are playing college ball right now. It's a big, big position to fill. Obviously, we all feel like we need to do it well to pay homage to them because they did amazing work last year."
Mason Bartholomy impresses in 2022 debut
While Bartholomy's excellence was expected, it still was hard to ignore Tuesday.
His first time through the order, the senior struck out eight of nine hitters, the lone exception coming when a breaking ball got away for a hit-by-pitch.
"I'm glad with how the first game went," Bartholomy said. "I wasn't looking for strikeouts because defense is always there to help you. Strikeouts just come along with it."
With his fastball scorching early, the senior southpaw also dropped a number of devastating curves in and under the hands of right-handed hitters.
"The curveball, just it was coming out of my fingers great," Bartholomy said. "Fastball, just I was accurate with it, hit my spots."
Given the Rovers' relatively small number of pitchers in 2022, at least compared to past years, Waesch is stressing efficiency this season.
How did Bartholomy do on that front?
He needed just 58 pitches to get through five scoreless.
"What can you say about Mason Bartholomy?" Waesch said. "Fifty-eight pitches in five innings. I mean the kid was just dominant. Fifteen of 17 first-pitch strikes, we talk about pounding the strike zone early in the count and he just basically picked up where he left off last year."
Kyle Gregel, outfield defense impress for Crestwood
The Red Devils weren't without highlights Tuesday.
Kyle Gregel broke up Bartholomy's no-hit bid in impressive fashion.
With a full count and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Gregel wasn't fooled by a curve in what tends to be a fastball count, sending a liner up the middle.
Crestwood's outfield also impressed Tuesday as centerfielder J.P. Wrobel caught back-to-back scorching liners in the fifth and right fielder Jimmy Peters had a couple of nice snags earlier in the ballgame.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: New standouts emerge for Rootstown baseball
