by Brent Hovey
Reporter
Aurora -- The 2008 season was supposed to be THE year for the Greenmen baseballers. But a weak finish has coach George Snider and his players already looking ahead to the prospects for 2009.
The promising season started slow as a young but experienced team of mostly juniors and sophomores -- and one senior -- struggled to find consistency.
They dropped to a season-worst two games under .500 at 5-7 after being swept in a doubleheader by Woodridge.
Then the players seemed to come together. They beat state-ranked Kenston, swept a doubleheader from the then one loss Cleveland Heights and won two over division-leading Perry on their way to seven straight wins.
Just when things seemed to be on the up-and-up, rainouts and scheduling gave AHS a full eight days off -- a long time off for a baseball team on a hot streak.
The result: Six losses in their last seven games. The lone win was a 5-2 decision over Streetsboro in the sectional tournament.
Included in the losses were two CVC Chagrin Division games to Orange, which cost Aurora the league title, and a season-ending loss to Field in the sectional championship.
"We went 1-6 down the stretch," said Snider. "I hate to make that the story of the season, but it became the story of the season."
Aurora finished the year with a 14-14 record (5-5 in the CVC). The 28 games was the most a local baseball team has played since 1986, when it went 16-12 and won a district title.
Snider said good high school baseball teams have to be ready to play into June and the experience the Greenmen got this year will help them in 2009.
"WE LEARNED something about the length of the season, how long you have to stay on task and how difficult it can be," said Snider.
"In terms of competition, we had the expectations of a good offense, which it was. But then when faced with real good pitching and the length of schedule, we struggled. We learned how to prepare. We know what we have to do, but doing it comes with experience."
AHS stepped up its schedule and played very tough competition, including four state-ranked opponents -- Hoban, Woodridge, Cardinal Mooney and Kenston -- and went 3-5 in those games.
"We took some steps in playing more competitive baseball outside our conference, and we did it in a year when we had no pitching experience whatsoever," said Snider. "And we asked them to win. I don't know if it's a lesson learned or not, but it's the next level."
The only pitchers Snider had coming back were junior Joe Taylor and sophomore Ty Watson, with a combined 15 innings pitched -- not what you could consider much experience.
Taylor turned into the big game pitcher. He went 4-4, with 43 strikeouts in 50 innings, and got the win in big games over Mooney, Kenston and Perry.
"He was our guy," said Snider. "He lost more games because he pitched in the big ones and had more chances to lose."
Watson pitching 34.1 innings with a 3-2 record. "He needed to get a year under his belt," said Snider. "He was just a sophomore so he'll be fine."
Junior Ian Sanford became the relief pitcher Snider wanted him to, finishing 3-1 with 4 saves in 30 innings. He made 11 relief appearances and didn't record a loss in any of them.
THE REMAINDER of the pitching duties were handled by a group of guys used mainly on weekends and in non-league games -- juniors Peter Doyle, Andrew Wallace and Wes Domeck and sophomore John Kovalik.
As a team, Aurora batted 29 points higher this year than last year (.301 to .330).
Leading the way was a pair of All-CVC first teamers -- Taylor and junior Andy Mitroff.
Taylor batted .341, Mitroff .435, and both each had more than 20 RBI and batted .600 in league play.
The lone senior -- Rob Lajeunesse -- was named to the second team All-CVC, as was Watson. Lajeunesse batted .355 with 25 RBI and 4 HRs, and Watson hit .430.
Junior Steven Yung raised his batting average 120 points from last year to .373 and added 15 stolen bases.
Sophomore T.J. Deininger had maybe the most demanding season. He was behind the plate catching for every inning of every game.
Snider said finding a back-up catcher will be a top priority for next year.
Junior Andy Heacox was troubled by a nagging hamstring injury. He had only 33 at-bats, but managed a .393 average.
When Heacox went down, it looked like there could be a hole in the outfield and the batting order. However, the injury was a blessing in disguise as sophomore Nick Phillips filled in.
Phillips batted .294 and always seemed to have a key hit when it was needed. Junior Adam Bellamy batted just .242 overall, but .400 in league games.
Snider is confident the experience from 2008 will make 2009 a banner year. After all, as he said; "All the pieces are there."
E-mail: bhovey@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3115