Cavaliers improve to 2-0 on the Fall

Pitching, defense and timely hitting led the Cavs to an 8-2 victory over JC Fall Select at the Baseball Complex Tuesday night.
Pitchers Gage Daniels, Tony Schulte, Brad Alberts and John Lenherr combined gave up two runs and six hits while striking out 14.
The game was a fairly close 2-1 through three and a half innings before the Cavs offense woke up.
The Cavs loaded the bases with no one out when Sam Stucky drew a walk. Following Stucky’s walk Brad Alberts cleared the bases with a double.
“He was struggling to throw stikes,” Alberts said. “I had a three-to-one count and I was just looking to jump on something and it was there.”
After the damage was done the Cavs led 6-1 and never looked back.
David Drahozal hit an inside the park home run to center field to make the score 7-2 Cavs.
Zach Smith picked up the eighth and final run in the seventh with a single, a stolen base and scored as Tanner Funk got caught up in a run down between first and second base.
The Cavaliers coasted to the victory from there.
Eric Horner, assistant coach likes what he has seen from the Cavs so far this fall.
“We’ve got a young club and we’re learning every day. It’s good to get out and play,” he said.
Horner said Fall baseball games allow the college to see some of the young high school stars in the area.
“It also allows our freshman to get out and kind of learn the game outside of practice and not play and beat ourselves up,” he said. “We’ve got to get our guys out there and see what they can do.”
Alberts said he feels the team isn’t playing up to their potential.
“Some of the little things we didn’t execute but as a whole we played well,” he said.
Nate Thomas, who went 2-for-3 with two runs scored said the hitting isn’t quite up to par yet.
“Our defense looks pretty good but we’ve got a lot of work to do on the hitting,” he said.
John Lenherr, who struck out the side in the ninth after going 2-for-3 said the team played a lot better than the first game against the Expos.
“We are getting better but we’ve still got a ton of work to do,” he said. “We just need to come out and work hard every day and continue to get better.”
The Cavs next play a doubleheader on the road at North Central Missouri Community College in St. Joseph, Mo. on Sept. 6.


Send me your comments at cfletch5@jccc.edu