Baseball Falls Behind Early, Recovers to Beat Sauk Valley CC

Vero Beach, Fl- A six-run second inning put Sauk Valley ahead 6-4, but the Greater Allegheny baseball team would find its stride, coming back to earn an 8-6 victory. 

  Sophomore outfielder Zak Schmidt (Moon) led off the game for GA with a walk, and then stole second in the following at-bat.  Junior Mike Visloski (West Allegheny) followed with a walk of his own, and both runners were then advanced by a sacrifice bunt from Senior Teddy Fricke (Carrick). Schmidt would score on a wild pitch, with Visloski coming around on an RBI single from Sophomore Sam Weightman (Penn Trafford).  

  In the GA second, Junior catcher Josh Kubisz (Goose Creek) led off with a single, and eventually came around to score on a Mike Visloski sacrifice fly.  Teddy Fricke then singled in Freshman Zach Zeroski (West Allegheny), who reached after being hit by a pitch.  The two runs put GA up 4-0.  In the bottom of the second inning, Sauk Valley would go flying in front, after scoring 6 runs on 5 hits and an error. 

  Coming back in the top of the third, GA got themselves back in control, scoring 4 runs of their own.  Back-to-back walks and an error allowed two GA runners to score, with a single from Freshman infielder Tyler Thellman (Blackhawk) knocking in a third.  A single from Zak Schmidt moved Thellman to second, allowing him to score on a Mike Visloski base-knock in the next at-bat. 

  Teddy Fricke came in to relieve Mike Visloski of pitching duties in the third inning, silencing the Sauk Valley bats.  Fricke (1-1) earned the win tossing 5 shutout innings, striking out 4 and walking 3, while giving up just 1 hit.  Zak Schmidt reached base 3 times in the game, going 2-4 with a run and walk each.  Mike Visloski also turned in a strong day at the dish, going 1-1 with a walk, run, and 2 RBI's.  Fricke, Thellman, and Weightman each also added an RBI. 

  In an exhibition contest against Gatineau (Quebec) GA cruised to a 9-2 victory.  Sophomore Brian Balagurchik (Notre Dame Academy) pitched all 7 innings on the mound for GA. 

  With the victory, Greater Allegheny snaps its 2-game losing streak and improves to 3-4 on the season.  They return to the diamond tomorrow, March 9th for a double-header against Rochester College (MI).  First pitch of game 1 is at 12 PM.