Clay’s bats are coming alive in hunt for TRAC title

Clay baseball finally gets to play on the infield artificial turf installed at Oregon Recreation Complex’s John Ousky Field in the fall of 2019. 

Last year the Eagles only had a brief opportunity to get early season training on the turf before the season was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. This year, the Eagles are taking full advantage.

“After the disappointment of the 2020 season, it has been exciting to get back at it,” Clay coach Jim Phillips said. “This year’s team has a high ceiling, and leadership will play a pivotal role in getting us to reach that ceiling.”

Phillips believes strongly about his team’s chances in the TRAC this season.

“I think we have an opportunity to finish in the top half of the TRAC and compete for a TRAC championship,” Phillips said. “It is very difficult to gauge where everyone will be at with the 2020 season being lost but St. Francis and St. John’s have a tendency to be at the top. Overall, the league is very competitive with the top five teams being able to beat one another on any given night.

“I think this team has a lot of ceiling. We’re young, but I think everybody is, but we’re lacking a lot of varsity experience because anybody who has any experience were either freshmen or sophomores when we played last. 

“I think there is a lot of growth that we still have yet, so in my mind I think we can challenge for a TRAC championship, I think we can challenge for a district championship, and I think right now our goal is to try and get better each day. The team that is ready to go by the end of the season will turn the tide in the league,” Phillips continued.

Phillips, a former standout at Youngstown State University, has coached eight seasons at his alma mater with his teams going 90-67. Two years ago, the Eagles were 17-8 overall and 8-6 in the TRAC, but Phillips has nine returning letter winners, including honorable mention All-TRAC player Spencer Fortier, who is now a junior.

Three seniors are already committed to playing collegiately — Trevor Jurski is heading to Notre Dame College, Ethan Spears to Ohio Northern University and Bryce Sutton to Mount Union University.

Phillips says Sutton, a transfer from Start, is a solid addition to an already talented team.

“He’s really a grinder, works extremely hard and fits in really nicely with our group. Obviously, we love his skills and I’m pleased with all three of them,” Phillips said.

Hitting solid, pitching needs experience

Phillips says the team will score plenty of runs when Spears is on his game.

“For me, I think he’s going to be our leadoff for all season, and if he is getting on, I think we are going to be scoring a lot of runs. I think he’s got a chance to be really, really special this year for sure,” Phillips said.

Spears, who says he’s heading to ONU because their engineering program and baseball were “a good fit,” adds that the seniors are committed to making sure this team earns some hardware before the season ends.

“I think the overall goal is just to reach our potential. We have a lot of young guys this year, a lot of talent, and I think we have a chance to compete for a TRAC title and in the tournament, go fairly deep,” Spears said.

Phillips is expecting Fortier, Spears, junior Jackson Kennedy and senior Logan Heintschel to be his top hitters.

“I think that this team has an opportunity to be my best offensive team top to bottom,” Phillips said. “Our aggressive mentality at the plate and depth should make this line-up dangerous.”

As a freshman two years ago Fortier batted .286 (16 for 56) with seven runs, 13 RBIs and a stolen base. So far this year, Heintschel leads the team at .444 and Jurski is hitting .429. They are followed by Kennedy (.389), junior Angelo Cuttaia (.368), Fortier (.345), junior Donovan Coughlin (.333) and Spears (.300). 

Heintschel has the Eagles’ lone triple while Spears has three doubles and Coughlin and Jackson Kennedy have a pair of two-base hits each. Spears leads the team with 11 RBIs and Heintschel, who has a team-leading slugging percentage of .556 and on-base percentage of .559, has scored a team-high 11 runs.

Leading the rotation are Jurski and Spears. Phillips is not going so far as to call his pitching the team’s “weakness,” but does believe his staff needs playing experience. So far this year, Clay pitching has struck out 60 and walked 49 with a team ERA of 1.49, but it is the near 6-5 ratio of strikeouts to walks that Phillips would like to see cut down.

“I’m not sure I would use the word weakness, but more appropriate would be unproven. After you get past Trevor and Ethan, we do not return any significant innings on the mound from 2019. I am sure that most teams in one facet or another face the same issues, there is talent but as of now at the varsity level it is unproven talent,” Phillips said.

As a sophomore two years ago, Jurski was 5-1 with a 1.63 ERA, 33 strikeouts, 13 walks, and one save in 30 innings pitched. So far this year, he is 2-1 with a 3.97 ERA, 10 strikeouts, and he has allowed seven earned runs and 10 hits in 12.1 innings throwing against the best opposition Clay faces.

Spears has not given up a run in his first 5.1 innings, going 1-0 with five strikeouts and one hit. Sophomore Anthony Barnes has pitched 12 innings with two wins and no losses. Barnes has a 1.17 ERA with 11 strikeouts and he has given up two earned runs and two hits. Others contributing on the mound are seniors Gary Brammer and Andrew Naugle and junior Conner Millimen. Naugle has not given up an earned run yet in six innings, striking out eight and walking two.

Johnathan Marsico has pitched 11.2 innings with a 1.20 ERA, no decisions, 12 strikeouts, two walks and allowing two earned runs and 12 hits.

Solid 7-2 start

Clay started its season 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference with losses coming to St. John’s, 5-4 in eight innings, in league play and to Perrysburg, 5-2, in non-league action.

The Eagles traveled to Toronto, Ohio for a doubleheader, beating both Harrison Central, 12-0, and Toronto, 10-0. Clay also has league wins over St. Francis, 5-2, and Findlay, 11-8.

Three non-league victories came against Northern Lakes League schools, including shutouts over Maumee, 4-0, and Sylvania Northview, 3-0, and a season opening 12-3 victory over Bowling Green. Phillips said Jurski had a solid game on the mound in the win over the Bobcats.

Spears adds that Clay demonstrated what it could do in the win over BG.

“I think we had a solid win against BG. They are a good team, and they are picked to finish near the top of the NLL, but I think we showed up and showed what we can do,” Spears said. “We had 14 hits, there was a lot of aggressiveness, and I think overall we have a lot of talent with our seniors, and I think we can lead these young guys. We have to really be leaders to be able to reach our potential.”

However, in the 4-0 win over Maumee at Ousky, sophomore Jase Kennedy, Spears and Naugle combined to pitch the shutout, although the Panthers had 12 base runners. Jase Kennedy started, going four innings and only allowing one hit while striking out five and walking two batters.

 and hitting two batters before he left the game. 

Clay scored all four of its runs in the fifth, thanks in part to a two-RBI double to the right-center field gap by Spears. One reason for craziness in the game was a strong wind blowing in from the west. Few balls were hit out of the infield, and it presented issues on both sides of the ball.

“Obviously, I think the wind affected that a little bit. They had the bases loaded a couple times and it is always going to be a challenge when you are playing a good team like that, so it is nice to come out ahead — I don’t care of it is one run or 10 runs,” Phillips said.