REED CITY — The wins and losses might not be favoring Reed City’s summer baseball team to some extent, but summer coach Jess Rolston emphasizes it’s the time of year when scores aren’t important.
Reed City lost 4-1 to Evart and 7-1 to Fremont on Thursday in a four-team event at Evart.
In the Fremont game, “our pitcher didn’t have it and gave up seven runs before we got an out,” Rolston said. “Jeff Phenix came in and shut them down. They never scored again. The kid that threw for them is a heckuva pitcher.”
Rolston also was happy with his team’s defense.
“Bryce (Grannis) made an awesome defensive play at third,” Rolston said. “Brendan Wirth did, too. Derrick Rasor probably made the play of the night in center field before he came in and (played catcher). He made a diving catch.”
Rolston said Reed City may have more games coming this summer but plans haven’t been finalized. His players have seen action during the summer and have made progress, Rolston said.
“The program has come a long way,” he said. “We expect great things going into next season.”
The numbers have been favorable for baseball, Rolston noted, despite competition with summer basketball and football.
“The number was down (Thursday) because of the holidays,” Rolston said. “But usually, we’re struggling to get all the kids in the game because we have as many as 16.”
EVART
Evart was 2-0 on Thursday with a 4-1 win over Reed City and 9-2 victory over Pine River.
Josh Dorn and Billy Conklin had big hitting nights, Evart coach Josh Johnson said.
“I had some young guys hitting the ball well too, like Ty Sochocki and my son, Garrett Johnson, who had a nice double, “ Johnson said. “Garrett will be a sophomore next year. Ty is a freshman, Tucker Henry is another freshman who played well, so did Donovan Reagan, as a freshman.”
Evart has played four summer games and has a single contest Wednesday at Pine River.
“That will probably be it (for the summer),” Johnson said. “We may try to find something else. I had two seventh graders out here.”
Pine River defeated Fremont 15-2 in another Friday game.
Tristen Nelson had key hits for Pine River.
