TIFFIN — Pitching and defense is a winning formula in baseball.
They are more necessary in late-season games as teams prep for the postseason and Solon showed glimpses of it Thursday night.
The Class 3A ninth-ranked Spartans received quality starters from Tyler Bell and Vince Steinbrech, sweeping Clear Creek Amana, 10-2 and 9-3, in a Wamac Conference baseball doubleheader at CCA Middle School.
“I thought our pitchers tonight were really good,” Solon Coach Keith McSweeney said. “It was easy for us to be energetic behind them and play good defense. They were pounding the zone. It seemed like they were throwing all their pitches for a strike.”
Bell made his seventh start of the season and entered the game with a .500 record. He nearly went the distance, limiting the Clippers to two runs in the third inning. He allowed just five hits total, pitching more than six innings for the victory and improving to 3-2 overall.
“Usually, I’m just putting strikes over the plate and people put balls in play,” Bell said. “I’m not going to blow anything by people. I like making them put balls in play and let my defense do the work. They did that tonight.”
Bell is among a quartet of starters with six or more starts. He trails only Steinbrech, who has eight. He is fourth on the team in innings pitched, surpassing 36 after Thursday. Bell shows the depth of Solon’s pitching staff, which is important in the postseason.
Pitching well late in the season is crucial.
“It’s super important, building that confidence for the postseason,” Bell said. “Confidence for a pitcher is huge. If you don’t think you can put it over the plate and make guys work for their runs, then you might as well not be out there.”
Bell, who played right field in the nightcap, may not be the headliner like all-state and all-district teammates Brett White and Gehrig Turner is but he has a role to play, holding teammates accountable and doing his own job well. He was on point, holding down a Clippers offense that averages 7.7 runs a game.
Bell said he loves taking the mound.
“I’m a pretty competitive person myself,” Bell said. “I like being out there and making people work through me. I feel like I’m a confident guy and feel I can take on anybody.”
The Spartans (23-10, 16-6) scored six runs in the third and pulled away with a four-run seventh inning. White had an RBI single and scored, while Nolan Seagren added a sacrifice fly to score Tyson Wheeler.
Steinbrech was just as effective in Game 2. He only allowed three runs on five hits. Steinbrech moved to 6-0 and lowered his 3.34 earned-run average, retiring the Clippers (19-12, 15-7) in order in the fourth and seventh.
“Vinnie hit a couple barrels the first inning, went away from one of his pitches,” McSweeney said. “He’s a smart pitcher like that.
“He kept them off balance. He didn’t get a lot of swings and misses necessarily but he was getting soft contact and we were able to pick it and catch it.”
Solon produced all of the runs it needed with a four-run first. White led off with a single and Seagren reached on a fielder’s choice. Steinbrech, who reached base three times and had hits in the first two at-bats, helped himself with a two-run single. Dylan Gorham added a base hit to chase home Steinbrech and Maddox Kelley.
Seagren doubled in the second and scored on a Kelley sacrifice fly in the second for a 6-0 lead.
The Spartans posted multiple runs in five of the six innings they scored during the doubleheader. They were better with two-strike approaches and applied pressure on the base paths, according to McSweeney.
“It doesn’t have to be a ball in the gap,” McSweeney said. “You just have to fight balls off. I thought we had guys do that tonight.
“We ran the bases real aggressively and executed. That helped quite a bit, too.”
Both teams are on the same side of the 3A Substate 4 bracket. Solon opens with Vinton-Shellsburg and CCA takes on Williamsburg. The two could meet in the substate semifinals. Though the victories were nice to get, a rematch with bigger stakes could occur.
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“You always want to win,” McSweeney said. “That’s the goal. It’s sport. It’s competition. It kind of has the same feel as last year. We drew them in the first round last year …the usual conference games have more intensity but because we both know that while they’re important games, and both sides want to play well, the more important game is in July.
“We talk about trying to peak in July. Our kids work really hard all winter and spring. We come in every morning at 8 o’clock. We’re not always playing good defense. They’re high school kids and teenagers but when they do it like this, obviously, it’s fun to watch but great to coach. It’s clean baseball and it’s tough to beat.”
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