MTZ baseball finishes season above .500

By superadmin | May 30, 2023 |

Robert Chausse winds up in an 8-0 loss against Rochester at the Rochester 3A regional semifinal.

By BLAKE FAITH
Staff Writer

The Mt. Zion baseball team ended its season last week with an 8-0 loss against Rochester in the IHSA 3A Regional Semifinal at Rochester.

The Rockets scored six runs off of two hit by pitches, an E6 and two singles that gave them a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

The Braves got Aiden Weaver on with a walk, but left him on base. Then the bases were loaded for the Braves in the top of the fourth and stranded all three. Sam Driscoll broke up the Rockets’ no-hitter with an infield hit, but was left on-base as well.

At the top of the seventh, Coach JD Arnold let his seniors Chase McInerney, Ben Hanneken and Carter Thornton pinch hit opportunities as a tribute to them to end their Braves career. Them along with Toney Alford and Robert Chausse all graduate this year.

“They have done a lot of work for me in the last two years,” Coach Arnold said. “Having a coaching change halfway through your high school career and then they hit the ground running with me and didn’t ask very many questions and just put in a lot of work and I appreciate what they did and when we start taking off here in the next couple of years, it’s gonna be a tribute to them.”

The Braves ended their season 16-14-1 and 7-5 in the Apollo Conference for second place.

We ended up above 500 and we figured we’d be around 500, maybe a little better than 500, which we did,” Coach Arnold said. “We didn’t make a regional championship like we thought, so it was a little disappointing in that aspect. But overall, it’s something that we can build on moving forward.”

The Braves will return Driscoll, Weaver, Drew Hittmeier, Evan Hamrick, Carter Spangler, Tyler Zuber and Chase Fink.

“We just gotta get better in all aspects of the game,” Coach Arnold said. “The little things, making routine plays, making contact with baseball, moving baseballs more often. I like to see us get a little bigger in the weight room as well and just get better as baseball players.”