Baseball Team Returns from Excellent Florida Trip

With every spring break comes the departure of the Varsity baseball team for Vero Beach, Florida. The trip is nearly a 20 year tradition for the team and is the most cherished part of every single school year for the majority of the players, and this year was no different.

“This was my third year on the trip and every experience was great in it’s own way,” says senior Dom Cusumano. “You get to know your teammates way better than you would have without it, and while it sounds cliche it really brings the team a lot closer.”

“You develop inside jokes, you bond over video games, and you get to know each other off the baseball field” said senior third basemen Kevin Graham.

The team also plays plenty of baseball. This year the team had 6 games in total, 4 actual Varsity games with 2 exhibitions reserved for non-returning players. The team also had 2 practices and spent a lot of time hitting in the cages.

The first game of the trip was a rough one for the Cats who had a hard time adjusting to the hard playing surface of the Sunshine state. They took a 12-2 loss to Evanston Township, a 4,000+ student school from the Chicago area.

“The only good thing about that game was that it was probably good to have a hit to our confidence level, we started off the season feeling invincible but we definitely were not in that first game” said senior pitcher Carter McCall.

The team bounced back with a vengeance in game 2 against Stevenson high school, another 4,000+ student school. Senior Clayton Guzdial pitched a complete game and added two hits, two RBIs, and a double at the plate to lead the Cats to a 10-7 victory.

“Goose (nickname for Clayton Guzdial) really went off in that game. He provided the spark we needed to get over the hangover of losing so badly the game before” said McCall.

The Cats also brought home the 3rd game in blowout fashion against Medina high school from Cleveland, OH. Jimmy Obertop picked up 3 RBI on 2 hits as Keaton Greiwe picked up his first varsity win on the mound. The cats rolled to a 9-4 win before heading over to a different field for the second game of a doubleheader.

The fourth game was an absolute offensive explosion for the Cats in a 18-8 win against another Ohio opponent. Dominic Cusumano recorded 4 hits (3 of which were double’s) and 3 RBI from the leadoff spot while Blaise Matheny went 4-4 with 3 RBI to support the bottom half of the lineup.

The unsung hero of the game was Jaxon Halsey who came into a tough situation in the 3rd inning and escaped without allowing a run. We pitched 3 scoreless innings to pick up his first varsity W.
Overall it was a excellent trip for the team who came out of the week a lot closer as a unit and 3 wins better in the scorebook.