For Eastwood, tables are set for this time, next year

Someone should tell Eastwood baseball coach Kevin Leady he deserves a much-needed vacation. 

Next year’s baseball season is going to be filled with high expectations, and he will have to prepare for that. 

This year, his team went 26-4, tying a school record for wins, but it came with growing pains. Next spring, he gets nearly his entire team back.

Eastwood finished second in the Northern Buckeye Conference at 11-3, but two of Eastwood’s league losses were in back-to-back games where the Eagles were shut out.

“We had a really bad week. Welcome to baseball. We didn’t score,” Leady said.

Leady said even though his team started out on fire, immediately catching the eyes of coaches voting in state polls, once things went sour it was hard to get back on track with a young squad.

“We really only had three guys who had played significant varsity baseball and they played as freshmen,” Leady said. “Everybody lost last year, so whoever had played this year, technically it was their first year, but they were really freshmen. 

“What stinks about losing last year is there is always a way a kid has to figure out a way to work through a slump. That is baseball — work through adversity and they did not have that opportunity last year and some of them struggled this year and it took a while to get going. The older they get, the easier it is for kids because they have been through it.”

Still, Eastwood had six players batting .300 or better, and a seventh who batted .296 but led the team in RBIs. Five are voted All-Press first team for six positions — catcher Andrew Arntson, second baseman Isaac Cherry, pitcher Ethan Rapp, designated hitter Caleb Recker and Lake Boos as a pitcher and an outfielder. Three are juniors and two are sophomores, so all return next year.

“A lot of guys who played in key spots were sophomores,” Leady said. “We had seven sophomores play significant time this year, more than three juniors with significant time, and more than five juniors played, but we do have a really great group coming back. It is going to be fun.”

Leady says the only problem with that is, like in their 4-1 regional semifinal loss to Baltimore Liberty Union and in the three league losses, opponents will likely start their ace pitcher against the Eagles.

“This group is going to see that for multiple years in a row, and that is just the mentality it is going to have to be. Every game is going to be a grind because you are going to see the best,” Leady said.

This year, Lake Boos was 7-2 on the mound with an NBC record 105 strikeouts while walking 32. He allowed 33 hits and 19 earned runs in 61.1 innings for a 2.17 ERA. Rapp struck out 74, walked 30, and allowed 24 hits and 20 earned runs in 51.2 innings while going 7-2 with a 2.71 ERA.

“They are guys who really eat most of the game. That is what you wanted out of those guys. They are tremendous, so I mean both are really good in their first true season of pitching for us,” Leady said.

Other end of battery

At the other end of the battery, Arntson hit .444 (36 for 81) with a school record 13 doubles to go along with two triples, three home runs, 28 RBIs, 33 runs, five stolen bases, a .587 on-base percentage and .765 slugging percentage. More importantly, the three-sport athlete knew how to direct his pitching staff.

“He did a heck of a job leading our pitchers, and that is a big thing. Andrew was phenomenal for us this year,” Leady said. 

Lake Boos and his sophomore brother, shortstop Case Boos, batted at the top of the lineup for the majority of the season. Combined, they stole 62 bases.

 Lake batted .326 (26 for 86) with seven doubles, one triple, 20 RBIs, 37 runs, 26 SB, a .454 on-base percentage and .430 slugging. Case hit .379 (36 for 95) with four doubles, 22 RBIs, 39 runs, 36 SB, a .500 OBP and .421 slugging. Leady has a bit of “familiarity” family-style with the Boos brothers.

“Realistically, those guys were the catalyst of our lineup. We call Case, his nickname is ‘Baby’, and those are my nephews. Baby was the third boy, and they were having a fourth, but she is a girl, so we still call him ‘Baby.’ He is a heck of a lead-off guy,” Leady said.

“Our goal for him was just to get on. I did not care about average. What I cared about was getting on base because of the way he can run and the way he can change the game for us.

“Lake hits with a little more power and he is a heck of a center fielder. He probably covers the most ground we have out there, by far, but it really seemed like when those two guys got on, we could really wreak havoc on the bases and the guys behind them really drove them in.”

Cherry hit .321 (27 for 84) with five doubles, two triples, one homer, 27 RBIs, 31 runs, 15 SB, a .438 OBP and .464 slugging.

“Cherry is a funny one. He ended up playing shortstop for us, and he was in the two-hole for a long time,” Leady said. “He was hitting about .200 and we flipped Case and him, and Case was the shortstop and we put Cherry in the eight-hole and my goodness, did he take off. He just flourished the last half of the year and hit about .500 to end the year. He was great.”

Recker batted .326 (14 for 43) with four doubles, one triple, one homer, 15 RBIs, 17 runs, a .442 OBP and .535 slugging. 

“One of those things is he catches. He was behind Andrew and Andrew was fantastic,” Leady said. “I would probably give Caleb a little bit of credit for how Andrew played. There was never complacency. He really pushed him. 

“What ended up happening throughout the course of the year is that Caleb would play a weekend game catching, but then we really found him as a DH, and he really added some power to the bottom of the lineup. He has got some unlimited power. As the season went on, he turned out to be an everyday starter. I will tell you what, late in the year, he was just enormous for us.”

Sophomore first baseman Jordan Pickerel is second team All-Press after hitting .301 (22 for 73) with 12 doubles, one homer, 23 RBIs, 19 runs, four SB, a .426 OBP and .507 slugging. His home run was key in the Eagles’ NBC win over Elmwood.

“He is a really smart player and absolutely fantastic defensively. When your baseball player IQ is high, like a lot of players on our team, it makes things easier coaching-wise,” Leady said. “He is going to be fantastic. He went 3-0 on the mound, too, and he is a guy you look forward to in future years to really give some innings for you as well.”

Senior outfielder Isaac Badenhop is also second team after hitting .304 (21 for 69) with a double, home run, 15 RBIs, 22 runs, 13 SB, a .417 OBP and .362 slugging.

“We loved having him down in the nine-slot. He can run the bases well, handle the bat well, can handle bunt situations and is a smart player. You just knew what you were going to get out of him,” Leady said.

Sophomore infielder Jared Bonfiglio, an honorable mention All-Press selection, batted .296 (24 for 81) but led the team with 32 RBIs batting in the fifth position. He scored 22 runs and had 13 SB.

Sophomore outfielder Jackson Bauer, also HM All-Press, batted .313 (15 for 48) with four doubles, one triple, seven RBIs, 12 runs, nine SB, a .492 OBP and .438 slugging.

“He was one of those guys who we had extremely high hopes for and kind of had one of those little slumps and it took him a while to work through,” Leady said. “Like I said, it would have been good to have him last year so he could get through that. What he did is he really took off for us and was another guy who was 3-0 on the mound, and we are going to have some high expectations for him as well.”