Carmichaels fends off Frazier for 10th straight win

CARMICHAELS – Sometimes when it comes down to the end of the high school baseball season, you just want to get all your section games in however you can.
And sometimes, you take a win any way you can get it.
Carmichaels battled the elements Friday afternoon and withstood a 30-minute lightening delay for a 3-2 victory over Frazier in Class 2A Section 1, extending its winning streak to 10 games.
“A win is always a win, you take it,” Carmichaels coach Richard Krause said. “We got a good starting-pitching effort and played a pretty clean game on defense. We need to kind of get it together on offense and hit more with runners on base. You can’t expect to win a lot of games by only scoring three runs in one inning.”
The Mikes (9-1, 14-1) are currently on top of the section with a one-game on Chartiers-Houston. Carmichaels travels to Bentworth Monday and hosts Brownsville Wednesday to wrap up section play.
“We just take it one game at a time,” Krause said. “We don’t look ahead. We prepare for every team accordingly. The focus is always on us. It’s about how we prepare for each game and how we execute on the field. They know what’s at stake, you don’t have to remind them. At this point of the season, we know what we have to do on the field.”
Despite the loss, first-year Frazier coach Dan Kupets is encouraged on how his young squad has finished the second half of the schedule.
“When I took the job, I knew we were going to build the foundation from the ground up,” Kupets said. “We got better as the season went along and these kids always play hard. We were right there with the top team in our section. The kids have made huge strides these last couple of weeks.”
The Commodores (3-8, 6-9) end their season at home against Bentworth Wednesday.
After both teams were held scoreless in the first, Carmichaels scored three runs in the second inning courtesy of an RBI single by Nick Ricco and a two-out, two-run hit by winning pitcher Matthew Barrish.
Frazier trimmed the deficit to 3-1 in the third when Shane Mcgavitt blasted an run-scoring double.
The game was delayed by lightning with two outs and a Frazier runner on second in the top of the fifth inning. After the 30-minute wait, Barrish escaped the jam with a strikeout to keep the Mikes ahead.
Carmichaels averted a second scare from the Commodores in the top of the seventh inning. After having its deficit cut to one run, 3-2, on a RBI single from Mcgavitt, Gavin Pratt induced a ground out to secure the save and the victory.
Barrish scattered nine hits, allowed two runs and had seven strikeouts on 89 pitches before being lifted for Pratt.
“Matt got a lot of big outs today,” Krause said. “I think by his high standards, he threw his ‘B’ game today. I was happy with his performance and his composure on the mound. He struggled a little bit with his command, but when he needed to make a pitch, he came through for us.”
Josh Skotnicki was tagged with the loss for the Commodores, allowing three runs on eight hits over five innings with seven strikeouts.
“Josh was mixing up his pitches but unfortunately his pitch count was a little high,” Kupets said. “He got into too many 3-2 counts, but I really liked the way he battled today. The pitch count just caught up to him.”
Mcgavitt, who had four hits in the game, pitched a scoreless sixth and fanned two batters for Frazier.
Offensively, the Mikes were led by three hits from Barrish. Dylan Wilson and Zach Gamble also added two hits apiece. The teams combined for 19 hits.