- April 25, 2024
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If the Seabreeze baseball team hopes to top what it did last season, it'll have to work through some growing pains.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
They may have won the game, but players on the Seabreeze baseball team know they have more work ahead.
It’s all part of the team’s greater goal, to surpass the point they did a year ago, when they reached the state quarterfinals. To do that, head coach Anthony Campanella said his team needs to win every inning, not just every game.
In a 5-3 win, March 1, the Sandcrabs knocked off visiting Astronaut, but lost a few innings. So, after the game, and after Campanella’s post-game talk, the team had to run a 90-foot sprint in the outfield. If it weren’t for the cold weather, Campanella said there would've been more.
The game was an example of the season the Sandcrabs have had so far.
Anthony Campanella, coach Campanella’s son, pitched six innings, giving up only one earned run. A defensive breakdown in the fifth tied the game 3-3.
The defense, Campanella said, will be one of his team’s strengths over the course of the season, but it just isn’t there yet.
Offensively, the coach said his team is hitting the ball well, just not when they really need it. On Friday night, when the Sandcrabs had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the first, and runners on second and third in the second, they couldn't convert.
The Sandcrabs didn’t score their first run until the third inning.
“It’s our job, as coaches, to try and put the puzzles together,” Campanella said. “And we have to figure out what will be best for our baseball team, as far as personnel is concerned.”
He said his team is going through some early-season growing pains, which isn’t the worst thing. In fact, Campanella, who’s entering his 20th season as head coach, said he’s glad his team is going through this now. It'll make them better in the long run.
“We have a lot of guys who are baseball rats,” he said. “They’re always at the field ... (making) themselves better.”
Pitching will also be one of the team’s strengths, in Campanella's eyes, with his son, Anthony, and junior, Zach Ballas, in the rotation.
“He’s our No. 2 starter,” Campanella said of Ballas. “Zach is going to win a bunch of baseball games for us.”
Seabreeze and Astronaut were tied 3-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. They had just let two runs score the previous inning, on mistakes.
The Sandcrabs were at risk of losing another inning, but much like a team of “field rats” would, they manufactured runs in the bottom of the fifth.
The inning started with a Buddy Harbuck walk. Then Nick James singled and advanced Harbuck to second. A wild pitch advanced the runners and the Sandcrabs had a chance to do what they couldn't in the first two innings.
Leadoff hitter Eddie McGarity hit a sinking line drive to center field. The Astronaut outfielder made a diving attempt, but couldn’t catch the ball, which rolled past him. Both runs scored, giving the Sandcrabs a 5-3 lead.
For that night, there would be one less sprint for the Sandcrabs.
