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Tustin players (from left) Nyte Tweeter, Nathan Walraven and Adam Whyte led the Tillers to a victory Friday. (Photo: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
Nathan Walraven pitched six strong innings to lead the Tustin High School baseball team to a 4-1 victory over Kennedy in an Empire League game Friday at Kennedy.
The lefthander limited the Fighting Irish to two hits, struck out seven and did not walk a batter as he earned his second win of the season and pull the Tillers into a tie for third place with Kennedy.
“I didn’t feel any pressure, but I felt like it was my job to put the team on my back today and help get us a win,” said Walraven, who retired the first nine batters he faced. “We felt like it was a must win game for us since we lost to them on Wednesday. I stayed focused and what a difference a week makes. Last week we gave up a bunch of walks and today we didn’t give up any.”
The Tillers struck for three runs in the second inning behind a two run single by Adam Whyte and an RBI by Mike Saltzer that gave the Tillers a 3-0 lead.
“I remained calm and I wanted to hit the ball hard on the ground or into the air to the outfield,” said Whyte. “It was key that we got an early lead. I think that gives us all a little more confidence. It was a big game and we felt like it was a must win.”
Whyte walked in the fourth and was pinch run for by Gavin Miller who came around and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.
Walraven was sailing along when his defense committed two errors that led to the Fighting Irish pushing across an unearned run in the fourth to cut the lead to 4-1. Kennedy had two on with one out, but Walraven retired James Elmore and Anthony Hernandez to get out of a jam. Kennedy only managed to get one more base runner on for the remainder of the game.
Walraven easily got through the fifth and sixth and Nyte Teeter came on to pitch the seventh inning and retire the side to close out the win for the Tillers.
“All of Nathan’s pitches were working well, his fastball, his curve and his changeup,” said Teeter, who aside from catching the first six innings of the game and earning his third save of the season, also had two hits and scored a run. “I am the closer and I feel we can beat any team on any day. I have full confidence in our team.”
Tustin Coach Ben Owens said it was a critical win for his team.
“Nathan was incredible for us today; I don’t think he walked anyone and it’s a huge win for us,” said Owens. “We got an early lead and that really helped us. You could see the energy and confidence level in our guys rising when we scored early. This win allows us to control our own destiny in this tight league.”
Kennedy Coach Tom Monahan remained upbeat despite the setback.
“We had guys on base, but we didn’t respond and that was the difference today,” said Monahan. “Our pitching will keep us in games. We feel if we score four or more runs a game that we’ll win, because our pitching is so strong. We just have to keep on getting guys on base and scoring runs.“
Nolan Owens started the game for the Fighting Irish and pitched six solid innings. He gave up three runs in the second inning but struck out four and walked only two.
—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone
