Bishop Moore Tops Olympia 6-4 In Back-And-Forth Bout

Written by Thomas Kuegler on March 1st, 2016

Scheitzach looks to his catcher from from the stretch.

Next man up. That’s the mentality Bishop Moore manager Tony Mehlich has emphasized this season for the Hornets–and the players are all in. On Monday night the Bishop Moore squad claimed their sixth win of the season, beating Olympia 6-4 to shock the top-ranked team in Orlando.

Connor Scheitzach opened the game defensively for the Hornets (5-3) by retiring three straight batters, and in the bottom of the first he got to open up the game offensively as well. He didn’t waste any time, lacing a single to lead off the Bishop Moore attack. Justin Moran and Gabe Scavone followed suit with two singles of their own, with Gabe knocking in the first run of the game.

“We set the tone offensively,” Hornets manager Tony Mehlich said. “That first inning we took advantage of some of their mistakes, but they’re a really good team. We were expecting seven innings of baseball.”

After allowing four runs, Olympia answered in the top of the third with two runs of its own off the bat of Jonathan Levin. However, Connor Scheitzach shut the Titans down one batter later before they inflicted any more damage.

“Connor came out and set the tone,” Mehlich said. “Our three number-one arms all went out early in the season and our young guys have taken over. We had nine seniors and now we’re down to two. Between Connor and Josh Bates they both have stepped it up. In Josh’s last 15 innings he’s only given up two hits, but Connor’s been right there behind him.”

Leading off and starting, Connor had a lot of responsibility for his team on Monday night, but it’s something he loves.

“Yeah I love it, I love the intensity of the game,” Connor said. “I always look forward to it, and wake up every day loving this game.”

That feeling is one shared among the whole team. Bishop Moore’s dugout was alive the entire game, constantly vocalizing their support and cheering.

Justin Moran at second base focusing on the next pitch.

“I just think we’re gelling as a team and really being a cohesive unit right now,” second baseman Justin Moran commented. “I think we’re playing together really well. We’re seeing the ball at the plate, we’re hitting back side when we need to, we’re trying to hit a deep pop fly to score a run.”

Moran had a couple of brilliant defensive plays at second base on Monday night, and it’s evident that he’s all in with manager Tony Mehlich’s vision.

“At the beginning of the season we were a bit down on ourselves, but coach sat us all down and emphasized the next man up mentality,” Moran said.

Scheitzach left the game after the fourth inning, finishing with seven strikeouts.

Olympia scored two more runs in the fifth inning. But after Quinton Martinez took the mound for the Hornets in the last two innings, the Titans (7-2) failed to score any more runs. In fact, five of the last six outs for Bishop Moore were strikeouts. Martinez, along with Connor and Josh, has played an important role as well for the Hornets this season, recording the highest batting average of the team.

Bishop Moore will look to build on their success in the coming weeks despite their numerous injuries.