The Mentor Cardinals completed a busy weekend with a solid 3-1 record after splitting a pair of games on April 12.
Mentor is no longer perfect this season, but a 5-1 mark so far this spring and a strong performance in the BW3 Tournament gives Cardinals coach Jeff Haase plenty of reason for optimism.
After defeating Mt. Vernon and Mansfield Madison on April 11, Mentor defeated Ashland, 9-4, before falling in a rematch against Mt. Vernon, 10-5, on Sunday.
“The kids did a good job on the weekend,” Haase said. “A lot to work on, but pretty good so far. Contributions from a lot of guys top to bottom. Good things to build on.”
In the win over Ashland, Ricky Valeri continued his fine start to the year with an early RBI and a couple of hits. Tyler Thompson, Rob Mealey and Tommy Noll helped spur the offense for the Cardinals.
Zak Schaeffer got the win against Ashland and Ryan Kanetsky pitched well in relief.
In the rematch against Mt. Vernon, it was a close game until the Yellow Jackets pulled away in the late innings to hand Mentor its first loss of the season.
The Cardinals scored 31 runs in four games at the BW3 Tournament and begin NOC Valley play on April 13 – weather permitting – at Strongsville.
“We have eight games in six days and just hope we can get them all in,” Haase said. “We will know where we stand as a club after that. I like where we are and how the guys fight to the end on every pitch.”
MENTOR BASEBALL – THE WEEK AHEAD
After a strong 5-1 start to the 2015 campaign, Mentor gets into NOC Valley play with four scheduled conference games this week.
The Cardinals will travel to Strongsville on April 13 in their first league game of the spring.
Mentor plays a home and home series with Medina on April 14 and April 15 before hosting Strongsville on April 16.
A nonconference game originally scheduled for April 13 against St. Edward will be made up at a date to be announced.
The Mentor offense has gotten going early with 45 runs in six games.
