ST. JOHN — From the players to the field itself, just about everything was new during Tuesday’s season opener between Lake Central and Bishop Noll.
Despite featuring only three returning players, the youthful Indians blanked the Warriors 5-0 in the first-ever game on the Lake Central’s new turf playing surface.
“You saw nine kids that were scared to take the field,” Lake Central coach Jeff Sandor said. “We missed some signs and we made some errors. In the first five innings, we fell behind in the count to 75 percent of hitters, and that’s not going to work for us.”
Although starting pitcher Bryan Vanderlee regularly battled from behind in the count, he tossed four scoreless innings of two-hit, six-strikeout ball to earn the win. Bishop Noll stranded six runners in scoring position, at least one in each of the first five innings.
Zach Turnbough delivered the biggest offensive blow, launching a two-run triple in the second inning to put Lake Central in front.
“Off the bat, I knew it was in the gap, so I was thinking three all the way,” Turnbough said. “It felt good to get something going for my team in the first game of the year. Hearing the crowd cheering knocks the dust off your back. It’s an amazing feeling when everybody in the stands and all of your teammates are screaming.”
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Bishop Noll’s Cesar Montemayor took the loss after allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits in four innings. Montemayor was a staple out of the bullpen for the Warriors a season ago, and is attempting to latch down a starting spot this year.
The Warriors may seem like a veteran group on the basis of their senior-laden roster, but in reality they lost seven to graduation and have only three returning starters.
“We came into the game talking about limiting walks, hit batters and errors, and we were able to do that,” Bishop Noll coach Andrew Ramker said. “I thought we might come out a little rustier than we did. These kids have been itching to play somebody other than themselves. I wish it could have ended a little better, but at least we got game one down.”
Perhaps the most impressive individual performance came from Lake Central sophomores Joe Graziano and Matt Litwicki, each of whom tossed perfect innings in relief.
“Matt got ahead of all three hitters and Joe got ahead of two of the three,” Sandor said. “The two sophomores showed our junior and senior how to go out there and attack hitters.”
Former players and their relatives were on hand for the regular-season debut of the school’s new field.
“I like to think that these kids deserve to have something special because we’ve had a lot of good players come through here, and all of this becomes theirs,” Sandor said. “The mound is going to be in good shape and balls are always going to play true. There’s just nothing to worry about.”
Brandon Vickrey is a freelance writer.