Baseball

Varsity debut gem

Liberty’s Evan Kirsch tosses a two-hitter to propel Indians over Tri-Valley

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIBERTY, NY - For Evan Kirsch, the most difficult part of his first Liberty varsity pitching start was anticipation. Butterflies galore fluttered inside his stomach the day and night before the game against Tri-Valley on April 19. Assurances of his teammates, coach John Wilhelm, his dad or even his brother, Jacob, who played for Liberty and graduated in June, couldn’t put his anxiety to rest.

No, the only remedy was to do what he had successfully done at the junior varsity level: throw strikes and let his defense do the job behind him.

Using a four-seam fastball that he eventually was able to locate with surgical precision, Kirsch did just that. He got ahead of Tri-Valley hitters, got stronger as the game progressed, mixed in a change up and a splitter, helped his own cause with a pair of hits and two RBI and then turned the ball over to Scott Hamlin to close the deal in the seventh after striking out six and issuing three walks.

Hamlin put the icing on the cake with a one-two-three seventh inning relief stint, which followed up a stellar day at the plate, replete with two hits, including a triple and a pair of RBI.

The then smiling Kirsch looked on approvingly and noted, “I can’t say enough about this team. This is a great group of guys we’ve got here.”

For Liberty, it was just the right tonic for a team that is loaded with eight seniors and that had its share of hard luck last season. This year, the Indians return Justin Green, Justin Garritt, Scott Hamlin, John Snyder, Greg Skiff, Mike Maltese, Kelly Hamlin and Nick Vasquez.

They also return with a renewed spirit and drive that swirls around catcher Garritt, a vocal team leader that coach Wilhelm notes the kids respect and listen to. Garritt leads by example. In this game, he stole three bases, had a base hit and threw a runner out at second with that gun of an arm that will make base runners think twice about going on him.

Heading into a weekend game against Eldred, a team that pulled off a stunning win against them last year and then on to a league series against Burke where the memories of a pair of 2-1 losses from last year still linger, the Indians hoped to ride the lightning in a bottle they got from Kirsch, their crisp defense and timely hitting.

For their part, Tri-Valley, a team that features a number of first-year varsity players, along with some veterans, the agenda is to get better every time out, according to coach John Rusin. After an opening day win against Fallsburg, the Bears struggled against Onteora and, although they came out on the wrong end of this one against Liberty by the same score, Rusin saw much improvement as his team hustled for every ball, played nearly flawless defense and never gave up.

“As long as we’re playing the kind of baseball we’re capable of, the wins will come,” said Rusin, who, like Wilhelm, coaches a team that is seeing its first live pitching following weeks of confinement in the gym.

Wilhelm was pleased with his team’s effort. “Evan pitched a really good game today and we had no errors,” the coach said. “We still need to get some production out of the bottom part of our batting order.” Reflecting on last year’s misfortunes that included a pair of extra-inning losses to Class A Cornwall and Port Jervis, Wilhelm said that his team, which was always competitive last year, has the ability to be even better given its wealth of experience.

In addition to Kirsch, Wilhelm can look to other players to give him innings, including starter Green, both Hamlins, Tompkins and Rubio.

Rusin summed things up this way. “Defensively I thought we were sound. We had only one throwing error on a pickoff attempt. I thought Will settled in and started hitting the corners. Liberty got some good hits and played great defense, but Will wasn’t getting tattooed out there.”

Continuing to stress the idea of improvement, Rusin added, “We played better today than we did Saturday and if we play better tomorrow than we did today, we’re on the right track.”

Rusin observed that for a number of his first-year varsity players, adjusting to the speed of the game, which is markedly different than that seen at the jayvee level, would take a little time.

Tri-Valley (2-2) beat Livingston Manor 14-1 on April 20 and was scheduled to travel to S.S. Seward for a pair of games this week, before a road game against the Manor Wildcats on April 25.

Liberty (2-1), which lost its opening-day game to Cornwall, demolished a young Eldred team by the score of 28-6 on April 21 and then prepared with a trio of games against the John S. Burke Catholic Eagles on April 23, 24 and 26. The middle game is at Burke; the others are at home. Liberty beat Burke 8-4 in the opener.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of photos from the Tri-Valley game and game one of the Burke series.