May 1, 2007

Sports

Willow Glen baseball drops to 3-13 with late-inning loss to Leigh

Despite solid pitching efforts all season long, inconsistent hitting plagues Rams in 2007

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

An already rough season got a little rougher for the Willow Glen baseball team following a late-inning 8-1 loss at home to Leigh on April 26.

Rams center fielder Dewey Rogge takes a swing at a pitch during an 8-1 loss to Leigh on April 26. Rogge has played with a pulled hip flexor throughout the season, affecting his best baseball asset – his speed. Photos by Diego Abeloos

The loss, which saw the Longhorns score seven runs in the final two innings of play to break a 1-1 tie, left the Rams with a 3-13 record in Mt. Hamilton Division play at week’s end. Rams head coach Brett Gladden said that while his team has been on the cusp of being a solid team, little things keep cropping up throughout games that inevitably end up costing Willow Glen some crucial wins.

“We’re just not having a good season,” said Gladden. “The guys aren’t swinging it well because they haven’t made the adjustments. …But we’re playing with guys. We’re sticking around, and that’s fine. It’s just the little things that get us. We’ll just have a little breakdown, and we don’t have that margin for error.”

Tied 1-1 in the top of the sixth, Rams starting pitcher Jake Goetz allowed a pair of Leigh runs to cross home plate for a 3-1 lead. The Longhorns then added five more runs—including two charged to Goetz, who was relieved after two batters in the seventh—to take an 8-1 win. Gladden said the scenario against Leigh has been a familiar one for the Rams all season long, but noted that the team’s pitching staff, anchored by starters Goetz and Kyle Lundquist, has been one of the bright spots in an otherwise tough year.

“Our pitching has been good,” Gladden said. “They’ve gotten us into the fifth or sixth innings (consistently).”

Still, Gladden said an inconsistent offense has plagued the Rams throughout stretches of league play. In losses to Santa Teresa and Leigh on April 24 and 26, respectively, the Rams combined for just six hits, including three by standout freshman second baseman Elliot Hoffman. Gladden said Hoffman’s blue-collar mentality on the diamond, as well as a solid left-handed swing, should have the 5-foot-3-inch infielder contending for the league’s Freshman of the Year award.

“He’s a gamer,” Gladden said of Hoffman, who struck out for just the third time all season in the 8-1 loss to Leigh. “He knows how the game is played. …(As a hitter) he tries to spray it around, but we’re trying to get him to gap it a little more, pull the ball a little more. He can do it. He’s a tough out and he’s a smart player.”

Willow Glen starting pitcher Jake Goetz took the tough luck loss in an 8-1 decision won by Leigh on April 26. Goetz threw into the seventh inning allowing three runs through the first six frames before allowing the first two Leigh batters to reach base in the seventh. Both runners came around to score as part of a five-run seventh inning for the Longhorns to help seal the 8-1 loss for the Rams.

In addition, Gladden said he’s received valuable senior leadership on an already senior-laden team (the roster lists 12 seniors) from center fielder Dewey Rogge, who has played with a pulled hip flexor all season long. Rogge, whose average is currently hovering around the .380 mark, suffered the injury on a home run he hit during the team’s second game of league play. Gladden said the injury has affected Rogge’s game, which relies heavily on his natural speed.

“He’s been fighting it all season,” Gladden said of Rogge’s injury. “…He had a triple on Tuesday (April 24 versus Santa Teresa) that he had to leg out. It was hard for him, but he got in there. That (the injury) has hurt his game a little bit, but he’s still stepping up.”

With five games left in the regular season, Gladden said he hopes to see his team finish strong so that the program’s fate on whether to stay in the Mt. Hamilton Division, or move to the lower Santa Teresa Division, lies in his hands, and not the hands of the rest of the league’s coaches.

In addition, Gladden said he’s looking to establish a summer baseball program for his players so that they can keep up with the rest of the league, which regularly features rosters of players who compete in baseball year round, not just in Blossom Valley Athletic League competition.

“That’s where you have to be now,” Gladden said. “The game’s changed since we were kids. You can’t just play Little League and put your glove away and show up in January anymore. …Now these kids are playing travel teams and they’re getting in 45-50 games after this season, so that’s what you have to do to compete.”

In short, said Gladden, the off-season program he’s looking to establish isn’t just for frills, it’s a necessity, especially in light of the Rams’ rough 2007 season.

“You have to (do it),” Gladden said, “or else it’ll be like this. You might get some good players one year, but you want to get that consistency.”

Sports Briefs

CV Strikers Boys U14  Soccer Tryouts Class III  
Division A Central Santa Clara Valley Strikers is holding tryouts May 5 and May 12 from 2-4 p.m. at James Lick High School, 57 N. White Road in San Jose. 

Players of all skill levels are welcome to join the fun, but must be born between Aug 1, 1993 and July 31, 1995. For questions and/or additional information, call Coach Omar Alvarado at 408-242-3835, or go to www.cvstrikers.org. 

The Willow Glen High School Athletics Booster Club will host its Fourteenth Annual Rams Golf Classic on June 5, 2007 at the Spring Valley Golf Course. Registration/check in at noon, four-person scramble at two o’clock. Cost is $160 per player and includes entry fee/carts. All proceeds support Willow Glen High School Athletic and Spirit programs.  For more information and to register, please visit wghsgolf.googlepages.com.

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