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Ramstein
Ramstein swept a baseball double header from Stuttgart Saturday while Kaiserslautern lost twice to visiting Wiesbaden in the season opener for all four teams.
Yogi Berra was right. It truly ain’t over until it’s over. Twice, Ramstein scored the winning run in its last at bat to defeat Stuttgart 1-0 and 5-4 at the Royals field.
The opener is always an adventure because, even though the teams have been practicing, it is the first time they can see league competition, pitch to an umpire the pitchers have probably never seen before, find out where they are solid and where they still need to tinker. Also, Ramstein is young and it is time to see how they hold up to varsity competition. Coach Osvaldo Garcia Carillo has four freshmen, seven sophomores, three juniors, and three seniors on his roster.
It all starts with pitching. Tradition holds that the pitcher on opening day is a veteran who has been through it before. But Garcia Carillo went against the grain and started two very young pitchers, sophomore Ethan Smith and freshman CJ Delp. Smith dazzled and Delp did his job and made a good pitch to get a ground ball with the bases loaded, showing that Garcia Carillo has faith in his youngsters and will not hesitate to use them all in clutch situations.
In the opener, Smith, with steady guidance of veteran catcher Nathan Kranz, struck out eight over five innings to earn the shutout. The Royals scored a run in their half of the fifth inning thanks to a series of walks and errors to give Garcia Carrillo his first Ramstein victory. The Royals played errorless baseball. Kaden Romleski, Tieran Shoffner, Smith, and Chris Guzaldo each collected hits for the Royals.
In the second game, Stuttgart’s Jack Harris showed he might be the league’s best pitcher. In his three innings, he dominated, held the Royals to two singles, struck out eight of the nine outs, including the last six. Harris, tall and strong with intimidating mound presence, used a rising fastball and a decent off speed pitch to keep the Royals from getting solid contact. But Stuttgart lifted him after the third because of the pitch count, giving Ramstein new life.
Stuttgart Head Coach Rob Lloyd was not going to make Delp’s varsity debut easy. He instructed his hitters to take a strike before swinging, putting pressure on Delp to throw strikes early in the count. Delp jammed the leadoff hitter who popped up to third base for the first out, then ran into some opening day jitters and the next three hitters reached base. But he got the second out on a pop up to the catcher and looked like he was going to get out of the inning when he coaxed Wesley Coglianese to hit a ground ball to the right side. But the Ramstein second baseman had shaded toward the base to hold the runner and the ball slipped through the vacated hole. Then, when the Ramstein right fielder could not come up with it, the ball rolled deep behind him and all three runners scored. Stuttgart finished the scoring with a base hit and it was 4-0 after one.
Tieran Shoffner, one of three Royals seniors along with Jared Junkins and Kranz, relieved Delp and held Stuttgart scoreless for two plus innings. He gave way to freshman Miles Murphy who picked up the victory with two strong innings of hitless relief.
The Royals locked it up in the fifth and final inning thanks to shaky Stuttgart defense and that attitude that the Ramstein teams have demonstrated time after time, that they would once again come back and win. The Royals scored four runs, with sophomore Makani Stenger capping the inning with a deep sacrifice fly to left field to plate the winner.
Guzaldo and Romleski each managed two hits for the Royals.
“The boys executed the game plan to perfection,” Garcia Carillo said. “There were a couple of hiccups on certain plays, but the players were able to adjust and compete with their heart. That was the key to win both games. These guys are really good!”
Ramstein is in Vicenza with a game against Naples today and Vicenza tomorrow.
Kaiserslautern
At Kaiserslautern, the Raiders fell to visiting Wiesbaden 8-4 in the first game and 16-0 in the second.
In the opener, both clubs started their top pitchers, Austin Deckinga for Wiesbaden and sophomore Ronin Sherman for the Raiders. Sherman struck out the leadoff hitter, but he reached base when strike three squirted away and advanced to second when the throw was over the first basemen’s head, which set the tone for the inning. Also, because of the high sky and bright sun, anything hit into the air was difficult to pick up for the outfielders and there was no such thing as a routine fly ball. It was 4-3 Wiesbaden after the first inning, which lasted almost 50 minutes.
Yet the game did not lack for drama. Because of the enforced time limit, the last inning was the fourth with Kaiserslautern down 8-3. Jayvn Hill opened with a single. Deckinga got the next two hitters on a strike out and a groundout. A passed ball moved Hill to second. Matthias Perrin’s single knocked him home, 8-4 Wiesbaden. Following a wild pitch, Sam Newberry walked and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with two outs and the tying run at the plate. But Deckinga threw a high outside fastball to get Colin Zayd to pop up to the first baseman for the third out, securing the final at 8-4.
“We were hoping for a big base hit at that moment, but we should not have been in that hole in the first place,” Kaiserslautern Head Coach Jeremy Bates said. “Our defense has to tighten up and support our pitching more, and we will go to work on that right away.”
In the second game, Wiesbaden started early and pulled away for a 16-0 victory.
Before the season, Bates said that he never really knows how the team is going to perform until it actually takes reps in a real contest. The usually upbeat and positive Bates was noticeably frustrated after the two losses, especially with the Raiders defense.
“We learned that we have a lot of work to do in order to get back to the team we were a year ago. The potential is there, but it has to be developed by both coaches and players.” Bates will use the losses as a stepping stone to assure they work hard on improvement throughout the season. He said 75 percent of each practice is spent on fundamentals and individual improvement drills. The veteran coach’s body of work shows that the Raiders are always competitive come tournament time in May.
The Raiders are hosting SHAPE at 2 p.m. today and will travel to Stuttgart tomorrow.
