Batavia’s Ritchason shines in varsity debut
Batavia coach Matt Holm didn’t have to go far for a scouting report on his newest varsity player, sophomore Danny Ritchason.
Holm’s wife Lori is a cousin of Ritchason. And what better time than a matchup with Geneva for Ritchason to make the jump to varsity baseball, which he did Saturday by going 2-for-3 in Game 1 of a doubleheader and 1-for-3 in Game 2, driving in 2 runs in the opener and another in the nightcap for a very memorable debut.
Ritchason got the start at third base. Holm has had to shuffle with lineup with third baseman Sam Burnoski moving to the outfield to help with injuries to outfielders Anthony Carby and Andrew Scaccia.
“He’s (Ritchason) been tearing it up at the sophomore level,” Holm said. “I’ve just been giving chances to guys here (at third base). Probably should have done it three weeks ago. He hit a couple lasers.”
Even two of the three outs Ritchason made were line drives right at Chris Hipchen in center field.
“It was fun,” said Ritchason, who found out he was coming up two days ago. “I had been doing all right, hitting well.”
Ritchason, or “Bubba” as Holm called him, said it didn’t take long to notice a difference in varsity baseball.
“Curve balls curve more, fastballs are faster,” Ritchason said. “Got to have more discipline. I was trying to stay relaxed today, not over-think anything.”
Ritchason was one of four sophomores on the field Saturday. Andy Honiotes got the start for Geneva in Game 1 and fanned four in his 4 1/3 innings. Geneva shortstop Mitch Endriukaitis went 3-for-4 in Game 2.
Sophomore Rob Bowman has been playing center field for Batavia all season. He nailed his first home run Saturday, a blast that sailed over the left-field fence and onto the tennis courts.
“It felt pretty good,” said Bowman, who let out a big roar as he rounded first base. “I was just sitting back sitting on a fastball and he threw one right down the middle.
“We’re starting to come around. We’re playing good games, we just have to finish. Today I thought we finished.”