Rapshus, Lake Park shut out Metea Valley
Both Lake Park and Metea Valley had opportunities to score and win the rubber game of their series Thursday afternoon in Aurora despite the wind blowing in.
It was pretty basic baseball as the Lancers (10-7, 6-4 Upstate Eight Conference) made the most of their eight hits and the Mustangs (7-9, 4-6) couldn’t produce runs out of their six hits, resulting in a 4-0 Lancers victory.
In addition to the strong hitting, sophomore starting pitcher Rhett Rapshus went the distance for the Lancers, raising his record to 3-0. He struck out five. He recently was called up to the varsity, and his first start came April 9 in a 13-6 win over Larkin.
“Rhett did a real nice job and threw strikes. The defense did a nice job of taking care of the ball. It was a good day to pitch. You were able to challenge hitters,” said Lake Park coach Dan Colucci.
Rapshus did get into jams during the afternoon, but he and the defense found a way out each time. In the second with one out, Metea’s Andrew Fox and Ben Doiron singled to put runners on first and third. Rapshus then got a lineout to the second baseman and a called third strike to end the inning. In the fourth Fox again singled as did Mike Fitzgerald to put runners on first and second. Right fielder Erik Benhart made a skillful catch of a flyball to stop a sure run and the inning soon ended.
Metea’s John Charuk opened the fifth with a single to right and Austin Kinnavy laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move him over. Lake Park then got three straight outs.
In the seventh Doiron reached on a fielding error and Charuk got his second hit of the game to put runners on first and second. Rapshus got a called third strike for the second and final outs to end the contest.
“I felt great. I got a lot of help from the defense. They picked me up a couple of times,” Rapshus said. “This is a great team. There’s a lot of team chemistry and it’s been easy to come into an environment like that.”
For Lake Park, Ryan Castello, Erik Benhart and Max Boryszewski each had two hits.
Castello reached on an infield hit bunt in the second and Boryszewski’s double brought him home. Lake Park made it 2-0 in the fourth. Nick Turner led off with a single to right center and scored on Benhart’s RBI double play groundball.
The Lancers got insurance runs in the seventh. Benhart and Boryszewski reached on basehits with Tom Spear and Jeremy Olenek each connecting on RBI singles.
Metea starting pitcher Max Custer went a strong six innings, allowing four hits, striking one two and walking none.
For Mustangs coach Craig Tomczak, it’s about his team learning to make the most of scoring chances.
“Six hits should be enough to get some runs. I don’t think we should be shut out with six hits. We need to get the hits when guys are in scoring postition,” he said.