Glendale High baseball’s bats held in check by Village Christian in Babe Herman loss
GLENDALE— Glendale High’s baseball team has faced some tough pitching in nonleague action so far and its offense just hasn’t found a way to overcome the bigger arms yet.
Glendale, taking part in its first game of the Babe Herman Tournament on Saturday morning, looked, at times, overwhelmed at the plate, as Village Christian’s Chris Davidson had his way with the lineup and led the Crusaders to a 4-1 win at Glendale High School.
Like Johnson in the opener, Davidson struck out 13 batters, while allowing three hits and two walks in a complete game gem.
“He had command, never got behind, threw curveballs for first-pitch strikes,” said first-year Nitros Coach Alan Eberhart, whose team lost for the first time this season by more than one run. “We were overmatched and never really responded.”
The Nitros (2-4) mustered multiple hits in one inning in Saturday’s affair, coming in the second and it resulted in the team’s lone run of the day. Sean Harris led off the inning with a double. Justin French moved him over to third with a ground ball. Then with two outs, Hank Drosdik legged out an infield single that allowed Harris to score.
The run cut Village Christian’s lead in half, down to 2-1. The Crusaders struck first, capitalizing on a Nitros error, coupled with a miscue on the infield with a double off the bat of Davidson to help his own cause and put his team on the scoreboard in the first inning.
Tyler Rolls led off the second inning with a home run over the left-field fence to increase Village Christian’s lead to 2-0.
Glendale starter Jack Porras settled down after the long ball and allowed two runners into scoring position until the sixth, but his counterpart wasn’t making any mistakes, either.
The deficit stayed at one run until the sixth inning when Village Christian (4-2) added two runs.
Despite the loss, Glendale received another quality start from Porras. The junior allowed three earned runs in seven innings, giving up seven hits and issuing two walks.
Porras was one of three players to register a hit for Glendale, along with Harris and Drosdik. The Nitros, however, managed to spray one hit when the game was within a single run and couldn’t sustain the momentum garnered in the second inning.
“That’s our weakness, we just need to hit the ball,” Eberhart said. “Jack pitched another good game and our defense wasn’t as good as before, but we’re not going to go anywhere unless we hit the ball.”
“The good news is that we didn’t lose by one run.”
The Nitros committed four errors on the day. Eberhart would like to see improvement in all facets, particularly hitting, from an experienced squad that is already one win away from matching last season’s mark.
Glendale will look to get the bats going as it continues play in the Babe Herman Tournament Monday night versus Birmingham.