Struggles befuddle UA coach

Upper Arlington High School baseball coach Matt Middleton isn't dwelling on what his team's record could be.

He knows the Golden Bears allowed their opponent to score the winning run in its final at-bat in four of their first eight games, but his only concern is helping his team win its remaining games.

"People say, 'Well, you should've won four more games because you were ahead,' but I don't look at it that way," Middleton said. "We should've won those games, but we didn't. We've got to find a way to get it righted a little here and go on a (winning) streak."

UA lost 9-7 in nine innings to Westerville North in its opener March 29. The Bears scored five runs in the top of the ninth to take a 7-2 lead, only to see the Warriors score seven in the bottom of the inning.

On April 2, UA led visiting Watterson 5-3 before the Eagles scored seven runs in the top of the seventh and won 10-5. That same day, the Bears led visiting Fairfield 10-2 through four innings, but the Indians scored four runs in the top of the fifth, four in the seventh and two in the eighth to win 12-10.

Then, in an OCC-Central Division game April 13 at Hilliard Darby, UA led 7-0 before allowing six runs in the bottom of the third inning. The Bears scored two runs in the top of the sixth to take a 9-6 lead, but the Panthers scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and four in the seventh to win 12-9.

"It's got to be demoralizing for the kids at times," Middleton said. "It's demoralizing for me and our coaching staff. You sit there and say, 'We don't deserve this.' But the reality is, we do deserve it sometimes when we do the things we do.

"As frustrated as I get with the team as a whole or with individual kids, they're good kids and they work hard. There just comes a time when they need to buckle down and concentrate on what they're doing. I don't know if some of them are trying too hard or what. Who knows? But we need to calm down and play."

UA, which had only four players with varsity experience at the start of the season and has two freshmen in its starting lineup in shortstop Will Marable and second baseman Mitch Nini, nearly squandered another lead in its 10-9 win over defending OCC-Central champion Worthington Kilbourne on April 14. The Bears led 10-4 before the visiting Wolves scored three runs in the top of the sixth and two in the seventh. Kilbourne had the bases loaded when the final out was recorded.

"We had to hang on a little bit, but sometimes that's what it takes," said junior catcher/outfielder Pat Crowley, one of the Bears' captains. "(Squandering leads) is frustrating, but it's baseball. You have to have a short memory. The good thing is we (almost) always have a game the next day. We just have to come out and play and try to forget about (the previous game) if things don't go well."

Middleton is accustomed to seeing his team's offense lagging behind its pitching and defense at this point in the season, but the opposite is true this year. Through eight games, the Bears had a .265 team batting average and were averaging 5.9 runs while their team ERA was 6.67 and they had committed 19 errors.

"In my 10 years (of coaching), I've never had it flipped where our pitching and defense are struggling compared to our offense," Middleton said. "Our offense is usually behind, and it is in a lot of ways. We still give up a lot of at-bats. ... But our pitching and defense, we need to get tons better if we're going to compete. I think the kids are starting to get it a little bit, starting to understand, but we still need to make certain plays and certain pitches at certain points of the game."

Through eight games, among the team's offensive leaders were Nini (.467, 4 RBI, 4 runs), senior Jon Borchert (.412, 6 runs), junior Michael Armstrong (.385, 5 runs), senior Charles Cooper (.296, 9 RBI, 5 runs), junior Michael Koltak (.294, 4 RBI), Crowley (.292, 4 runs) and junior Eddie Miller (.276, 5 RBI, 7 runs).

Cooper was the team's top pitcher with a 1-1 record, 3.29 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 17 innings.

"We're swinging the bats pretty well and our defense is starting to come around, our errors are going down," Crowley said. "We're getting better every day, and that's what we set out to do. I think we're moving in the right direction."

• SUPPORTING THE CAUSE - According to Middleton, as part of Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, 10 percent of the proceeds from the concession stand at UA's home doubleheader against Olentangy Liberty on Saturday, April 23, will go to the Jay Holdgreve Endowment for Testicular Cancer Research at Ohio State's James Cancer Hospital.

Holdgreve, who was diagnosed with the disease last August, was a student athletics trainer at Ohio State when Middleton played baseball for the Buckeyes.

In addition, the Bears and Patriots will have decals promoting Testicular Cancer Awareness Month on their batting helmets in an effort to help raise awareness about the disease, Middleton said. The games are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.