Van-Far looked strong in a certain way in Saturday’s season-opening games but made too many mistakes.
The Indians lost 15-11 to Wheatland and 13-3 in six innings to host New Bloomfield …
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Van-Far looked strong in a certain way in Saturday’s season-opening games but made too many mistakes.
The Indians lost 15-11 to Wheatland and 13-3 in six innings to host New Bloomfield in a triangular to start the baseball season. They had eight errors and eight walks issued by pitchers against Wheatland and 15 strikeouts on offense against New Bloomfield.
Before the season, head coach Cameron Huff said defense would have to shine more than in other years but was impressed by the offense he saw on opening day. Van-Far had 10 hits and was tied with Wheatland at 8 through four innings before running into the 82-mph velocity of New Bloomfield’s Brayden Carroll.
“We’re better offensively than I thought coming in,” Huff said. “Defensively, we struggled and I thought we were further down the road. 10 errors today doesn’t help.”
Gibson Condie had a big performance against Wheatland by going 4-for-5 with five RBIs, Landon Flowers and Cooper Huff each had two RBIs and Gaven Gaston finished 3-for-5. Flowers was 2-for-3 against New Bloomfield, and Huff had the team’s only hit through four innings against Carroll. Cameron Huff said Ronnie Stanich reached base at a good slip from the leadoff spot, scoring three runs against Wheatland and picking up a hit against New Bloomfield.
Van-Far fell behind 15-8 to Wheatland — who has finished third and fourth in Class 1 the past two years — before fighting back in the final two innings. Flowers had a RBI single in the sixth inning, and Condie plated two runs with a single in the seventh.
“We didn’t give up,” Huff said. “We chipped away and found a run. Some small things don’t go our way defensively and pitching. It kills us whenever you have a leadoff walk, then you have an error and now you have two guys on with no outs. Sure enough, they get a base hit.”
The offense had to make a tough adjustment, Huff said, when they stepped in the box against Carroll’s velocity. He said the Wheatland pitchers they saw threw 75-77 mph and 68-70 mph so it was “a big change” against a solid baseball team in New Bloomfield. Huff said it would have helped a lot if Van-Far threw more strikes.
Huff said it “wasn’t the worst opening weekend” as he was encouraged by what he saw from his pitchers. He saw “signs of greatness” from Garrett Hopke and Slade Keller pitched “pretty well.” The starters Condie and freshman Tyson Sewell didn’t have the best days, according to Huff, but they have time to correct any issues to give Van-Far the production he expects from them.
“It’s first-game jitters, and we’ve been inside a lot,” Huff said. “Pitching will come. Pitching is one of those things that will come, and hopefully, our defense comes. Offensively, we are in a better spot than I thought.”
