Grand Lake starts season off strong

Chris O'Neill isn't too surprised that Grand Lake is out to a 9-4 start to the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League baseball season.

As the first-year Mariners coach prepared his team, he had a feeling that this team would be ultra-competitive.

"I saw us in a very successful position," O'Neill said Monday night as the team enjoyed its first day off since the season began. "We knew we would have the deep pitching staff. We knew we could run some guys out there, throw strikes and get some outs. With our position players, no matter what our average is, we have athletes we can fall back on. Anytime you have athletes, you're going to put yourself in a good position."

The pitching has been good for the Mariners to start the season. The Mariners' earned run average of 3.84 is fourth-best in the GLSCL and very close to third-place Hamilton (3.78). The team WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) leads the league with a solid 1.34. The Mariners have issued only 49 walks in 115 innings, the third-lowest total in the league.

"We've had some starts recently where (starting pitchers) have gone deep into games," O'Neill said. "Even though we have a really good bullpen, we haven't had to use them. (Against Lorain County on Sunday), we were really confident when it was 2-1 that 7-8-9 (in the seventh through ninth innings) we could run guys out there to keep the game in check."

The area that is a bit surprising with the good record is the team's batting average. O'Neill was surprised when he found out the Mariners are batting just .218 (lowest in the GLSCL).

O'Neill attributes some of the slump to the recent three-game losing streak the team suffered last week before snapping it Sunday with a 2-1 win over Lorain County. Third baseman Kyle Schimpf, the team leader in batting with a .440 average, missed last week while traveling to San Diego to watch his older brother Ryan make his Major League debut with the Padres.

"I think a couple guys put pressure on themselves to get the job done with Kyle gone," O'Neill said. "Fortunately, we have him back for (tonight's game), so we look for him to get back on track right away and help boost our lineup. Two-eighteen is surprising because the guys have been finding ways to win games."

On the Road Again: After playing seven of their first 13 games at home, 12 at Montgomery Field and one at Veterans Field in Coldwater, Grand Lake will play seven of its next eight on the road starting tonight at Richmond. The only "home" game will be Thursday at Coldwater when the Mariners face archrival Lima.

"It's going to be tiring and grueling, but we have to be ready for it every day," O'Neill said.

After playing the expansion Jazz tonight and Wednesday and then the Locos on Thursday, the Mariners travel to Simmons Field in Lima on Friday before playing a weekend series in Newark against Licking County. After playing the Locos in Lima on June 27, the Mariners return to Montgomery Field June 28 against Cincinnati. Grand Lake will travel to the Wally Post Athletic Complex in St. Henry for games on June 29 (vs. Cincinnati) and July 1 (vs. Lake Erie).

Stat Leaders: Infielder Thomas Lindemann has been solid on the bases this season, leading the team and the GLSCL with a perfect 12-of-12 in stolen base attempts through the first two weeks.

First baseman Noah Sadler and outfielder/pitcher Tyler Paulsen are tied for third in the league with three home runs. Paulsen's solo shot on Sunday lifted the Mariners to the 2-1 win over Lorain County.

If Schampf had enough qualifying at-bats, his .440 average would be fourth-best in the league.

Starting pitcher Justin Palmbos is one of 16 pitchers tied for fourth in the league with two wins. Joseph Filosa's 1.84 ERA ranks 13th best in the league.

Players of the Week: Cincinnati's Cole Murphy and Irish Hills' Jordan Grosjean were selected the GLSCL Player and Pitcher of the Week respectively for Week Two.

Murphy leads the GLSCL with seven home runs and 22 RBIs. Last week he battled .478 with three homers and 14 RBIs.

Grosjean, who pitched for Grand Lake in 2015, is pitching well for the Leprechauns this season. He earned the honor with his performance last Friday at Montgomery Field, throwing a complete-game two-hitter with eight strikeouts against the Mariners.