Jace Addis, Pirates dominate Pontiac in chilly season opener

OTTAWA – It’s been almost two full years since Ottawa High School baseball fans had the chance to see their Pirates, and they wouldn’t be denied that opportunity – even if they had to sit through a steady wind and chilly temperatures in the low 40s to get their fix.

Jace Addis took the mound for the 2021 opener at King Field on Wednesday afternoon and “breezed” through the first four innings, allowing only two hits and no earned runs, while at the plate adding three hits and four runs scored to lead the Pirates to a 13-3, six-inning victory over Pontiac.

“It was great to see the boys with a smile on their faces, with their uniforms on, knowing they were going to face an opponent for Ottawa High School. It’s a good feeling for the players, for the coaches, and I’m sure for the parents out there watching, no matter how cold it is. It was great just to play, but to back that up with a win in six innings, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

—  Ottawa baseball coach Brent Moore

Michael Bruner added two innings of scoreless relief after Addis was touched for three runs in the fifth. However, by then OHS had built an 8-0 lead and was well on its way to its first win since May 2019. Levi Sholders, Evan Evola, Luke Cushing and Anthony Cooper each drove in two runs for the winners.

“I sat down on the bucket in the dugout,” OHS coach Brent Moore said, “and looked at Coach (Tyler) Wargo and said, ‘You know, this kinda feels weird, doesn’t it?’ He said, ‘Yeah, but it feels the same, too.’

“It was great to see the boys with a smile on their faces, with their uniforms on, knowing they were going to face an opponent for Ottawa High School. It’s a good feeling for the players, for the coaches, and I’m sure for the parents out there watching, no matter how cold it is.

“It was great just to play, but to back that up with a win in six innings, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Addis was in control from his opening pitch, although he did give up a double to Pontiac’s Logan Barnett with two out in the first. The only other hit off him was a single by Colin Gould, that coming after the Pirates’ senior hit the second of four batters he would hit on the day.

The other two plunkings came in the fifth when one of them, his only walk in the game and an error brought in the Indians’ first tally. Bruner came on with the bags loaded and gave up a two-run double by Gould, but then shut the door the rest of the way.

“Jace is a baseball-only kid, and he was amped from the very beginning. In fact, he’s been ready for the last three weeks, maybe longer than that,” Moore said. “He started to labor a bit in the cold weather, and because he was near his max pitches anyway we made the change, but Jace was in the zone and dominant today, kept them off-balance and was very efficient.”

Like Addis, the Pirates’ bats were ready to go in the first.

Addis reached on an infield single off PHS starter Barnett before Sholders was hit by a pitch and Evola walked, loading the bases. Bruner’s fly ball to right was misplayed, scoring a run, before Cooper drove in a pair with a line-drive single to left for a 3-0 edge.

An RBI single in the second by Evola made it 4-0 before a four-run fourth broke it open. No. 9 hitter John Zytnowski, who was hit by a pitch three times in the game, reached that way to start it and later scored on a wild pitch by reliever Henry Brummel. Addis walked and scored when he and Evola, who was also hit, pulled off a double steal. After Bruner got hit, Cushing capped the rally with a two-run double to left.

Ottawa added two in the fifth on a single by Sholders and sac fly by Evola, and three in the sixth including the walk-off RBI single by Sholders.

“We had timely hitting today, like Anthony’s big two-out hit in the first,” Moore said. “When you put the ball in play, put a little pressure on the defense, good things will happen.

“Top to bottom, everybody played a part.”