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Rob Schimmoeller has been in a pretty good mood lately, and for good reason.
For starters, as of Tuesday his Oak Harbor baseball team was tied for first place in the Sandusky Bay Conference with perennial SBC power Perkins. Secondly, on April 12 the sixth-year coach got his first win over the Ray Neal-coached Pirates when the Rockets handed the visitors a 4-3 loss.
“That gave us a lot of confidence, to beat the defending league champions,” said Schimmoeller, whose team traveled to Perkins on Wednesday. “They've won our league at least eight or nine of the last 10 years. Beating them gave the kids a ton of confidence going into the league schedule.”
Senior pitcher Damion McAtee scattered nine hits over five innings to earn the win over Perkins, using his fastball, slider, curve, and knuckleball to “keep Perkins' hitters off-balance,” according to Schimmoeller.
Through 15 games, Oak Harbor had a 12-3 overall record including 5-1 in the SBC. Its only conference loss (4-0) was to an Edison team that returned most of a squad that reached the regional tournament in 2009.
After an 0-2 start, the Rockets won nine in a row before losing to Edison. During that streak, Oak Harbor gave Schimmoeller his 100th career victory in a 14-10 win over Monroeville on April 15.
“It's a neat milestone to get to 100 wins,” Schimmoeller said. “We play a lot of close games. We play good defense and our pitchers throw strikes. We don't give teams extra opportunities. We did have a streak where we scored double-digit runs. Lately, we've been playing close games and making the plays we need to make and getting the hits when we need to get them.”
McAtee has been a big part of the Rockets' success thus far, on the mound and as their No. 3 hitter. McAtee is 3-1 with one save and a 2.47 ERA in 28 1/3 innings, with 15 strikeouts and five walks. At the plate, McAtee is batting .422 with 15 runs, six doubles, one triple, two home runs and a team-high 20 RBI.
“He wants the ball in our big games,” Schimmoeller said, “and he's thrown well all season.”
Sophomores Alex Bores and Brian Mallernee have also performed well as Oak Harbor's Nos. 2 and 3 pitchers. Bores is 5-1 with a 2.51 ERA in 22 1/3 innings, and Mallernee is 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 14 innings.
The Rockets, who are averaging 8.6 runs a game, have nine full-time players batting .300 or better.
Junior shortstop/pitcher Josh Warnke, who has two saves, is batting a team-leading .474 with 18 runs and eight RBI. He has hit safely in 10 of the 11 games he's appeared in.
Sophomore third baseman Phil Bryant is batting .415 with four doubles, two homers, 13 runs, 19 RBI and 11 walks. Senior outfielder and cleanup hitter Dillon Stiger is hitting .354 with five doubles, 15 RBI and 16 runs, while junior first baseman D.J. Everett is hitting .371 with 10 RBI, 11 walks and 11 runs.
Leadoff hitter Alex Pavlica, a senior second baseman, has scored 18 runs to go along with 19 walks and seven stolen bases. Freshman catcher/DH Mark Konieczney is hitting .359 with 12 runs and 16 RBI.
Schimmoeller said he is “a little bit surprised” with his young team this season. Oak Harbor has just three seniors.
“I knew we had some talent,” the coach said. “A lot of the kids had to adjust to playing varsity baseball, but we have guys who really get along and love to play the game. A betting man probably would have thought we'd take fourth or fifth in the conference this year, based on what we returned. We have to keep playing the way we've played.”
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