Baseball: Newman strikes early, fends off Amboy to win regional semifinal

STERLING – The Newman Comets wanted to come out and set the tone early in their Class 1A regional semifinal on their home diamond Thursday against the Amboy Clippers.

Brendan Tunink’s two-run home run on Amboy’s eighth pitch was just what the doctor ordered.

The Comets scored three runs in each of the first two innings, then held off a late surge by the Clippers to win 8-4 and advance to Saturday’s regional title game against Morrison at 10 a.m. Newman will be looking for its fourth straight regional championship.

[ Photos from Newman vs. Amboy regional baseball ]

“Setting the tone was big. We got seeded third and we’re pretty angry about that, so we had some posters in the dugout saying ‘#DontRespectUs’ and stuff like that,” Tunink said. “We were pretty hyped up to get out here and get going and win this game.”

Garret Matznick was hit by the first pitch from Clippers starter Brody Christofferson, then he went to second on an errant pickoff throw. Kyle Wolfe moved Matznick to third with a groundout, then Tunink hammered the fourth pitch he saw over the fence in left field for a quick 2-0 lead.

“It definitely helps out getting that fast start,” Tunink said. “I think the bench too, just to get riled up and actually get into the game and ready to go and chirp and do anything possible to get our team hyped up. That helped a lot.”

A hit by pitch, a Nolan Britt single, and a walk followed Tunink’s blast to right field, and courtesy runner Cody Donna scored on a wild pitch before Christofferson stopped the bleeding with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning.

“I think it was really huge to get going early. When you see your defense go out there and perform, and you’re throwing strikes, and then your offense is hitting, it’s just a big morale booster, and it just makes you have that much more confidence throughout the lineup, and with the dugout too,” senior catcher Jaesen Johns said. “Having a loud dugout, that always helps because they’re always talking you up, cheering everybody up, picking you up if you make an out. Those are really big things to us.”

Newman (18-8) kept the momentum in the top of the second, despite some pressure from Amboy (12-11). Jackson Rogers led off with a single, then Landon Montavon reached on a fielder’s choice and Dillon Merriman was safe on an error. Garrett Pertell’s infield single loaded the bases with one out.

But Wolfe got a medium-depth flyout to Tunink in center field, then Landon Whelchel’s line drive to center also found Tunink’s glove as Wolfe got out of the inning with the shutout intact.

“It gives us huge confidence to have him on the mound,” Tunink said. “He’s been pitching great all year, so once we got that lead, it just felt like, ‘Yep, we got this, we’re ready to go, let’s keep it going and get this over with. Let’s go to the regional finals.’”

Riding high off that escape, the Comets added three more runs in the bottom of the second. Matznick and Wolfe hit back-to-back singles with one out, then the Clippers walked Tunink intentionally to load the bases. Johns smashed a deep fly ball to right for a sacrifice fly that scored Matznick, then Britt ripped a two-out, two-run single to left to drive in courtesy runner Austin Van Landuit and Tunink for a 6-0 lead.

“I think we’re starting to string hits together – and not just hits, but string together ways to get on base however we can, then finding ways to get people to the next base,” Britt said. “It doesn’t always have to be a big hit. It can be forcing a walk or a sacrifice fly or bunt. We just try to find ways to score runs.”

Tunink drove in his third run of the game in the third, as he stroked a two-out RBI single to the opposite field in left to score Isaiah Williams, who reached base on an error to start the inning, then went to second on Matznick’s one-out single.

But Amboy reliever Tucker Lindenmeyer pitched 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth, and the Clippers found some life with their bats.

“I didn’t really let the scoreboard bother me at all,” Lindenmeyer said. “I just kind of thought about going in there and doing my own thing, like I have been the whole season. I just kind of stayed in myself, and it’s really all mindset when you’re on the mound.”

Christofferson reached on a one-out error in the fifth, then scored on Quinn Leffelman’s double that got all the way to the fence in left-center. That seemed to light a fire for Amboy.

“I was seeing his pitches well for the first two at-bats, so I just took what I learned from them and found a pitch I liked and got my foot down and drove it,” Leffelman said. “You felt the fans, you felt everyone cheering, you felt that there were signs of a comeback coming for us.”

“It was a little later in the game than we’d like, but it did give us a jump, and it really gave us hope and picked our heads up a lot from the first few innings,” Lindenmeyer said.

Lindenmeyer reached on an error, then Rogers was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Montavon lifted a sacrifice fly to center to drive in courtesy runner Charlie Dickinson, then Merriman and Pertell followed with consecutive RBI singles with two outs to cut the deficit to 7-4.

“We’ve done it all season, there’s always that one inning where we start to battle back,” Pertell said. “I don’t know what it is – maybe we start to get up on the fence [in the dugout] a little more – but there’s always that one inning, and it may string into two or three. It just happens that way for us.

“We’re kind of used to doing that now. Once we’ve seen a pitcher a little bit, we’ll start to string hits together, start to battle. It just starts to come naturally, and we start to get in a groove, and that’s how we move runners along and start scoring.”

The Clippers looked to keep it going in the sixth, as Christofferson and Leffelman walked with one out. But Newman reliever Britt induced back-to-back fielder’s choices to get out of that inning.

“Just throw strikes and trust the defense, that’s all I was thinking,” Britt said. “That’s what Kyle was doing all game, just pounding the strike zone. We had a couple of errors in the field, but he pitched through it. My mentality was just throw strikes, make them hit and don’t give them any free ones.”

The Comets manufactured an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Tunink was hit by a pitch with one out, then he stole second on the next pitch, then stole third two pitches later. Johns hit his third straight deep fly ball to right for his second sac fly of the game for an 8-4 cushion.

Britt and Garet Wolfe both singled with two outs, but Lindenmeyer got a groundout to keep the margin at four.

Britt then struck out the first two Amboy batters in the top of the seventh, but Pertell reached base for the third time by drawing a walk. Britt got ahead of Ryan Dickinson 1-2, but reached his pitch limit to be available for Saturday’s game, so Tunink came on and threw one pitch to record the final out.

Tunink reached base four times, and finished with two hits, three runs, three stolen bases and three RBIs to lead Newman. Britt had three hits and two RBIs, and Matznick singled twice and scored twice while reaching base three times from the leadoff spot. Johns added a pair of RBIs.

“I think a lot of the time, toward the end of the year, it kind of just all comes together,” Johns said. “Coach has been talking about it all year, but we really see it come together at the end of the year. And especially the last week, he’s just been talking about putting the ball in play, make them make a play, and we’re going to get whatever’s going to come out of it.”

Kyle Wolfe pitched five innings and allowed four runs (one earned) and seven hits. Britt struck out three and walked three in 1 2/3 innings of hitless, scoreless relief, and Tunink was credited with the final strikeout.

Christofferson gave up six runs and five hits in 1 2/3 innings, striking out three, walking two and hitting two batters. Lindenmeyer pitched the final 4 1/3 innings, finishing with two strikeouts and a hit batter while allowing two runs (one earned) and four hits.

“Tucker came in and held them down. He’s a special player, and we’re going to miss him,” Leffelman said. “When you’ve got a pitcher like that up on the mound, shoving the way he was, it gives you a lot of confidence, especially with the big inning we had. It gives you hope for what’s coming on the offensive side, but it was just a little too late.”