- WEEKLY POLL
First city baseball title completes diamond sweep
By Scott Calhoun
Special to The Press
sports@presspublications.com
Clay baseball’s first City League title completed a sweep of City League diamond sports, as the softball team won its second straight title earlier this month with a championship win over St. Ursula Academy.
In addition, the Clay junior varsity baseball team won its championship final, played just prior to the varsity game at Fifth/Third Field, with an 8-7 come from behind victory over St. Francis.
In recent years prior to Clay and Whitmer joining the City League in 2003, perennial champions like St. John’s, St. Ursula, and St. Francis had dominated. Now the Oregon public high school has given them a whole new dimension of competition to deal with.
With two consecutive district championships and the hard-earned City League crown, varsity coach Karl Knierim said his team put its postseason disappointments in 2006 and 2007 behind them to relish all it has accomplished in the last two years.
“(The league title) is huge. It helps as a program to know we’re going in the right direction and it certainly helped our kids believe in themselves,” Knierim said.
“Our seniors are a great group of kids and they meshed real well with the three juniors. It was a great team and the seniors are going to be sorely missed. They’ve done a great job for themselves and the program throughout the years.”
Clay has posted an impressive 47-10 record over the past two seasons.
Clay baseball rebounds to take City League title
By Scott Calhoun
Special to The Press
sports@presspublications.com
Clay baseball (27-3) spent a five day period battling a pair of Ohio’s premiere parochial powerhouses with a City League Final Four semi-final game against Whitmer sandwiched in.
When all was said and done, the Eagles were eliminated from the Shelby Division I regional tournament by sixth-ranked Cleveland St. Ignatius, 4-2, but bounced back to defeat Whitmer 6-0 in a league semifinal match-up and then St. John’s Jesuit 3-2 in a fantastic City League Final Four extra-inning championship game.
Senior pitcher A.J. Achter went through a rollercoaster ride on the hill both at Shelby in the Eagles’ regional semifinal loss, and on the well-manicured mound under the lights in downtown Toledo at Fifth-Third Field versus the Titans.
Achter pitched a no-hitter through the fifth inning against St. Iggy and did the same through three innings against St. John’s, only to come away with nothing in the win column in either game.
Against the Wildcats, Achter and the Eagles were deadlocked in goose eggs through five innings, with Clay putting runners on base in each inning from the second onward and in scoring position from second base or closer three times. In each instance Wildcats starter Ben Jurevicius and his defense eked out of trouble.
But that changed in the top of the sixth when catcher Rex Groll drove in senior second baseman Andy Knopp from second on a one-out line single to center for a big 1-0 lead.
With Achter in complete control of the talented Wildcat offense it seemed at that point as though Clay would redeem itself after falling in last year’s regional semifinals.
In the bottom of the sixth, however, a combination of Achter beginning to tire under a hot sun and the Wildcat batters finally warming up to the senior’s pitching regimen took Clay on a turn for the worse.
“Later in the game you’re not as fresh and you begin hanging a few pitches, and sometimes it can just be that other team’s seen you a couple times,” Knierim explained.
Mark Nelson immediately ended Achter’s no-hit bid with a leadoff single and from there the seams came undone as Georgia-Tech bound shortstop Derek Dietrich showed his stuff with a hard 1-2 rip down the leftfield line that instantly erased Clay’s lead and slung St. Ignatius into a 2-1 advantage. Clay Mayor and Kirby Becker furthered the turnaround with RBI hits to leave the Eagles reeling down 4-1 with only their final at-bats left to utilize in the seventh.
Clay was resilient facing elimination against Dietrich, who took the hill in relief with a fastball dancing in the low 90s. Senior Patrick Martin clubbed a double to deep left-center and later scored on a one-out groundball by senior Aaron Kovacs- but senior Casey Winckowski was errantly called out at second place during the sequence. A throw from the left side infield to try and get the force at second was bobbled by the Wildcat second baseman as his foot came off the bag and Winckowski slid in safely. The nearest umpire saw otherwise and rang up Winckowski.
Instead of eventually having runners on second and third with one out, senior Mike Romano was left with two outs and a runner on first. He struck out moments later to solidify the end of Clay’s state tournament dreams.
“We just didn’t do some things to help ourselves offensively early on against Ignatius,” said Eagles coach Karl Knierim.
“I told the guys it was a tough loss. You don’t like and I don’t like it. But the one nice thing is we still have the City (League) championship series to look forward to.”
With that advice, the Eagles rebounded this past Monday with resounding 6-0 victory over Whitmer in the City League Final Four semis behind the mastery of Martin’s pitching and then came face to face in a grudge match against the Titans Tuesday evening at Fifth-Third.
Achter again looked unhittable through three innings of work while Clay’s offense got it going early with Achter scoring an unearned run acquired via an errant throw by Titan third baseman K.C. Dippman to first on a force attempt in the top of the first.
The 1-0 margin would remain there, though, until the fifth frame when Achter helped his own cause by driving in Martin on a ground single to center to double up the advantage.
Achter kept the Titans scoreless through five innings despite losing his latest no-hit bid in the fourth, but much like the Eagles’ regional semifinal game the Michigan State-bound pitcher and his defense fell apart in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Pinch hitters Tim Corbey and Aaron Coonce provided clutch back-to-back RBI singles to eliminate Clay’s 2-0 advantage and tie the game at deuces.
Achter later escaped season-ending danger in the seventh when he stranded Titans on first and third by getting Dippman to fly out to center.
But the Titans returned the favor in the eighth when reliever Sean Williams cleaned up a mess left by reliever Nick Weir, getting Groll and first baseman Alex Timofeev to strikeout swinging with Eagles on third and first.
Winckowski then came on in the ninth relieve Achter and proceeded to load up the bases with just one out and a 3-2 count to Williams. Instead of walking in the game-winning run Winckowski pulled some wizardry out of his arm and struck out both Williams and the Titan’s primary hitter Ross Hartwig to erase the threat.
Pumped up by the senior’s brave resilience, the Eagles manufactured the run it needed in the ninth off of Williams when Achter walked and moved junior shortstop Ross Knierim to second. Knierim then scooted to third and on to home on a pair of wild pitches for the 3-2.
Winckowski closed out the Titans in the bottom of the ninth to secure Clay’s first ever City League baseball championship since entering the league in 2003.
State-ranked Clay baseball rolling in City League
By Mark Griffin
Special to the
Press
sports@presspublications.com
Karl Knierim has been around the game of baseball long enough where he knows he can't look too far into the future.
Sure, his Clay Eagles had won 18 of their first 19 games this season, but the 11 th-year coach knew this past week would tell a little bit more about his red-hot squad.
“It's important,” Knierim said, “for us to stay (mentally) grounded.”
On Wednesday, the Eagles had to hit the road to take on City League foe St. Francis de Sales. On Friday, it was another road game against another rival — and league favorite — St. John's Jesuit.
Last week, Clay improved to 6-1 in the CL with a 4-1 victory over Central Catholic, in which star pitcher A.J. Achter threw a two-hit complete game with nine strikeouts, and then defeated St. Francis 7-1. Casey Winckowski pitched six innings in Wednesday’s win over the Knights, and Patrick Martin closed in the seventh.
After 19 games the Eagles' lone loss was a 1-0 setback against Whitmer on April 27, when the host Panthers scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“They have a good lefty,” Knierim said. “We threw Patrick Martin against them, and we had one hit and they had two hits.”
Despite the loss, Clay is ranked fourth in this week's Division I state coaches poll. The Eagles are the only CL team ranked in the top 10.
“It's great,” Knierim said. “The kids should really be proud of it. They've worked hard and earned some special recognition with it. But, it's very important for us just to stay grounded.”
Knierim added that the Eagles have yet to have what can be termed a “signature” win. Clay has been steady throughout the season, getting solid defense, plenty of hitting, and outstanding pitching.
“We had some good wins early on,” Knierim said. “Our pitching has been very good this year. We opened with a win against Southview and Perrysburg and then a doubleheader against Bedford and just kept going from there.”
Clay is averaging more than eight runs a game and is hitting .346 as a team.
“Our bats have come alive,” the coach said. “We've had contributions from everybody throughout the lineup, which has been very good.”
The story of the Eagles' season, however, has been their pitching staff, which has a team earned run average of 1.00.
Achter and Martin, who will be pitching at Michigan State and Bowling Green, respectively, next year, lead the talented staff.
Achter is 5-0 with a 0.45 ERA and Martin is 3-1 with a 0.30 ERA. Seniors Aaron Kovacs (4-0, 1.84) and Casey Winckowski (4-0, 2.13) and junior Adam O'Shea (2-0, 0.41) have all been dominant as well.
The staff is under the tutelage of third-year pitching coach Garry Isbell.
“He does an excellent job with our staff,” Knierim said. “He's very knowledgeable. He pitched in college at Heidelberg and finished at the University of Toledo. He works very closely with our pitchers and catchers and does an excellent job.
“Our pitching certainly has carried us. We're only 18 games into the season and we have given up 28 total runs. That certainly allows us to stay in ballgames, even if we have a subpar day at the plate. I haven't been fortunate enough to have anything like this previously.”
Achter also leads the Eagles with a .417 batting average, with one home run and 13 runs batted in. Kovacs is hitting .409 with 11 RBI, followed by Martin (.385, 2 HR, 18 RBI), junior shortstop and leadoff hitter Ross Knierim (.379, 13 RBI), junior left fielder Mike Romano (.366, 8 RBI) and Winckowski (.321, 3 HR, 15 RBI).
Coach Knierim, whose squad lost to St. Francis in the CL tournament semifinals in 2006, hopes this year's team keeps it together and gets another shot at the league's Final Four tourney on May 28-29 at Fifth Third Field.
“Obviously, we have a very good staff and offensively we're doing a good job,” Knierim said. “Defensively we've been solid. Being a coach, the game of baseball scares you because it's such a fickle game. One game you can have 16 hits and the next day you can have three hits.
“We have to take it one game at a time and come out and play hard and do the things we need to do.”
St. John’s Kauder, Clay baseball, go hand-in-hand
By Mark Griffin
Special to The
Press
sports@presspublications.com
Oberlin College pitching coach Adrian Abrahamowicz pretty much knew he wanted Curtice resident Ben Kauder, a St. John’s Jesuit pitcher, the first time he saw him on the mound.
“What I saw in Ben was a kid with all the intangibles,” Abrahamowicz said. “He had that swagger when he took the mound. He had the right temperament. Going into next year he’ll come in and be a frontline starter and will play outfield (at Oberlin). He’s very poised out there. He has a lot of confidence. He's a guy you can see a team that will really get behind him when he pitches.”
Abrahamowicz said he has seen Kauder, a Curtice resident, pitch 4-5 times in the last year and he’s liked what he’s seen from the 5’11, 160-pound right-hander.
“If he's 6-foot-2, he’s going to a Division I school,” Abrahamowicz said. “He has all the things they look for, but he’s a smaller kid. He has very good command of his pitches and one of the best high school change-ups I’ve seen in a long time.
“Ben was my number one pitcher I'm bringing in. We only had a 15-man roster last year and we're bringing in a 15-freshman roster. Our best pitcher coming back was a freshman (Jack Dunn). Jack and Ben are both similar. I have nothing but high expectations for him and I think he's a great kid.”
Oberlin, a Division III program that competes in the East Division of the North Coast Athletic Conference, finished 17-23 last season under coach Eric Lahetta.
Kauder, who graduated from St. John’s on May 24, was a first-team All-City League and all-district selection as a senior after going 5-1 with a 1.75 earned run average. He said he signed to play at Oberlin, where he will study business and political science, on May 1.
“ Heidelberg was my second choice,” Kauder said. “Oberlin just seemed right. I got a lot of money from them and I think it’s a good fit. They have a newer coach and this was his first recruiting class. He showed a lot of interest and came up and watched me pitch. They were not a very good team, but they're rebuilding.”
Kauder, who also played left field at St. John’s, said he didn’t think his size would hold him back at Oberlin.
“I was working out a lot, but once baseball season starts it’s hard to keep working out five or six days a week,” said Kauder, who attended school in Genoa up until high school. “You need all the time you can to recover that arm. I will be able to work out pretty hard — school and working out.”
Abrahamowicz didn't seem too worried about it.
“I’m pretty fast. Offensively, that's my game — base hits, doubles, and stealing bases. They’re not really recruiting me to hit home runs for them. Pitching-wise, my biggest strength is changing speeds. I throw three different pitches — fastball, change and curve. My fastball, I can two-seam or four-seam and I can get them to move in and out.”
Kauder batted just .290 as a St. John’s senior. But even if he had batted 200 points higher, Kauder said he is the type of player who is never satisfied with his performance.
“I’m kind of a perfectionist,” he said. “No matter how good I do, I always think there’s room for improvement. I don't know if I’ll ever be completely satisfied unless I make it to the majors. I threw the ball pretty well this season. I threw against a lot of good teams, but I was disappointed with myself as far as hitting. It’s not like I was striking out a whole lot. The last two years I was just hitting balls right at people.”
This summer Kauder, who is working as a bank teller at Genoa Bank in Millbury, is again playing ball for the Toledo Hitmen, whose roster includes former Clay standouts Patrick Martin, A.J. Achter, Brent Graham, and Casey Winckowski.
The Hitmen, a hand-picked travel team, plays most of their home games at either St. John's, Ned Skeldon Stadium, or Clay. The last two years they have been mostly playing in tournaments in cities like Nashville, Columbus, Akron, and State College, Pa.
This summer, Kauder may get some razzing from his Hitmen teammates who played for Clay this past season. The Eagles beat St. John’s two out of three times in ‘07, including in the CL title game and in the district finals. Kauder pitched 7 1/3 innings in the CL championship game, which was won by Clay in extra innings.
“In the City finals, it was 2-2 when I came out. It was (hard) for me,” Kauder said. “I don't take losing very well. I don't like to lose. People say, ‘just have fun, it’s just a game.’ For me, I don't really have much fun if I lose. The Clay kids realized we were both good teams and every game we played was a good game. If we play 10 games against them, we¹d probably split 5-5.
“I would have liked to win every game I played against them, but that's not going to happen.”
Knierim confident Eagles can compete for league title
By Mark Griffin
and Scott
Calhoun
Special to The Press
sports@presspublications.com
Veteran Clay baseball coach Karl Knierim is excited about this year's squad, and for good reason.
The Eagles return a strong group of veterans including a pitching staff that could be as good as any in the City League. But winning a CL title, Knierim said, will require much more than just quality innings on the mound.
“We're going to have to play solid ball — pitching, offense, and defense,” said Knierim, whose team last won a title in 2001 when it was in the Great Lakes League. “In the City, you have so many good teams that you can’t give people opportunities. You have to have consistent, solid play day in and day out.”
Last year the Eagles amassed a 20-7 record and trekked all the way to the Shelby Division I regional semis before giving way to eventual state champion Strongsville. This year they are tabbed as one of the favorites to win the City League.
Through Tuesday, the Eagles were 4-0 in non-league play. They don’t open CL action until Apr. 16 at home against Rogers, but already own wins over Sylvania Southview (3-1), Perrysburg (12-2), and Bedford (4-1 and 7-4).
“Our pitching has been very good so far,” said Knierim, in his 11th season at Clay. “We’ve got some good arms back with A.J. Achter, Patrick Martin, and Casey Winckowski. We’re throwing strikes and getting ahead of hitters for the most part.
“We've got some good people back,” Coach Knierim said. “I hope to be strong offensively and defensively. I think we can be.
“Defensively, we’ve been kind of up and down. We need to shore that up a little bit. It’s early and conditions aren’t always the best this time of year, but we’ll continue to work. Offensively, hopefully we’ve turned the corner a little bit.”
Achter is the backbone of the pitching staff. The right-handed Achter, fresh off MVP-like seasons in football and basketball, will anchor the trio before heading off to Michigan State on a hardball scholarship.
His fastball is as swift as any in the area, clocking consistently in the high 80s, and has reached 90-91 at moments.
“He’s capable. He has a power arm and good command of his pitches,” said Knierim.
Senior righty Winckowski is another All-City League (second team) starting pitcher whom Knierim said has improved his curve ball and pitches in the 83-84 mph range with excellent consistency.
“He gets the ball over the plate,” Knierim said. “We’re in good position with those three.”
Winkowski starts at third base when he isn't pitching, while Achter and Martin both play in the outfield and another pitcher, Aaron Kovacs, is a utility player.
Senior outfielder Andy Knopp is another returning starter along with junior left fielder Mike Romano and junior Ross Knierim, the coach’s son, who moves from the outfield to shortstop this season.
“With Derek Spencer, who signed to play at Bowling Green, Ross wasn’t going to play ahead of Derek last year,” coach Knierim said. “We got him some innings at shortstop when we could. We worked with him over the summer and so far he's made the transition.”
Southpaw Martin is another senior heading to Division I college ball at Bowling Green after he helps the Eagles take care of business in 2007.
Knierim said Martin can bring three different pitches consistently over the plate and tosses them in at 83-85 mph.
Both Achter and Martin were All-City and All-District first-team choices last season. With Achter anchoring the one slot from the right and Martin the two from the left, Clay figures to be nearly unhittable.
“Those are two good arms and two very good outfielders,” Knierim said. “They’re definitely a cornerstone, no question.”
Winckowski was a second-team All-CL selection last year, while Ramono and Knierim were honorable mention selections. The team’s top hitter last season, all-league catcher Brent Graham, is now playing at Owens Community College.
It gets even deeper with another outstanding senior Clay athlete in Kovacs providing another quality starter on the mound while also offering top-line offensive punch as a utility player- primarily as a second baseman.
Rounding out the pitching staff will be junior Adam O’Shea, who can also throw strikes with consistency.
Players who have stepped into key roles so far this season are seniors Mike Sheehan, a second baseman, returning honorable mention all-league senior first baseman Alex Timofeev, senior catcher Rex Groll, senior first baseman Randy Trout, and senior pitcher/outfielder/utility Nick Guerrero.
“They’re good, solid players and they complement the returning starters we have back,” Knierim said. “They're definitely going to be instrumental for us this year.”
Clay sports family taking another star to next level
By Mark Griffin
Special to The
Press
sports@presspublications.com
A.J. Achter has also been chosen the 2007 James O’Brien winner, the most prestigious award that is presented to a Clay athlete.
A.J.’s father, Rod Achter, who played with his brother Roger on Clay’s 1979 baseball team that won the AAA state championship with a 3-2 victory over Euclid, won the O’Brien Award in 1979. Rod said he “can’t wait” for his son to get to Michigan State.
“He has a 6’5 frame and never had a chance to specialize in one sport in high school,” Rod said. “They're going to put 20-25 pounds on that frame - muscle and good weight. He’s going to become a better pitcher. The new coach up there is doing a great job, and they have a great recruiting class.”
A.J. said he was disappointed he didn’t get to add another
state baseball title to the Clay trophy case. A title also would have
enabled him to have the same bragging rights as his father and uncle.
“Team-wise it would have been nice to win a state title,” Achter
said. “Winning district and City League titles was pretty awesome. I hear
(Dad’s) stories all the time. It would have been nice to do the same thing
he did. I always see my dad’s (state championship) ring and he always tells
me stories about the team.”
Rod said he took the regional semifinal loss to St. Ignatius harder than his son did.
“As a parent watching and seeing every pitch - we know how
hard it is and how lucky you have to be and the breaks you have to
have to get there,” Rod said. “I know I was more disappointed
after the regional loss than A.J. was. I was crushed. It was a game
we should have won.
“A.J. shook it off and said, ‘Ah, go figure. I didn't pitch well
against St. John’s in the district finals and we won, and I pitched well
in this game and we lost this one.’ He turned his focus toward the City
League championship game (against St. John’s).”
Both Rod and Roger Achter spoke highly of A.J.’s ability to
improve his game
and attitude over the past year.
“It’s been fun watching him mature this year,” said Roger, whose daughter, Kate, is a starting point guard at Bowling Green. “Watching the growth in one year has been tremendous. I can’t wait to see what happens in the years that follow. It’s been neat to see the maturity and the confidence he has gained in just one year - unbelievable.”
Ben Kauder, an All-CL pitcher from St. John’s and a resident
of Curtice, is a teammate of Achter’s on the Hitmen. Kauder said
he noticed this season how much more refined Achter had become.
“It’s amazing,” Kauder said. “His sophomore year, he
wouldn’t have stood out from anyone else on the team. Last year he was
our best player, hands down. We have a lot of good players on our team. Just
in a year’s time, to see A.J. go from what he was to what he is now is
incredible.”
As a junior at Clay, Achter had a 5-3 record with a 2.5 ERA and batted just .310. As a senior, he hit .429 and was 7-1 with an 0.93 ERA.
“I worked real hard in the offseason,” Achter said. “Summer ball helped a lot. In the offseason, even during football or basketball, I threw at least once a week with my dad, just to stay sharp on my mechanics. Last year, I didn't do it as much because I had a broken wrist. But this year I made it a point to get out and do stuff.”
Despite his size, 90-mph fastball and unlimited potential, Achter was not chosen in the recent major league draft.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” Rod said. “He didn't to have to make that decision to go to college or sign. He’s fine with it.”
Rod added that, last summer, A.J.’s “agility was catching up with his body,” and it will only get better in the next few years at MSU.
“Last summer, we saw him grow into his body,” Rod said. “His summer league coaches did a great job with him and Karl (Knierim) has done a great job with him. It's been neat seeing him grow.”
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