Ryan Schnider launches an RBI double in the third inning for Connecticut Wolfpack 14U.
By Rich Bevensee
By his own estimation, Ryan Schnider has come a long way when it comes to hitting a baseball.
New Jersey received a heavy dose of the progress the young hitter has made when Connecticut Wolfpack 14U visited Diamond Nation for the first time this spring.
Schnider went 3-for-4 and spread the ball to just about every sector of the field while driving in four runs and leading the Wolfpack to a 7-0 pool play victory over Complete Game Academy in the Mother’s Day Classic on Saturday evening at ‘The Nation’ in Flemington.
Hitting in the No. 3 slot, Schnider displayed power, technique and discipline in every at bat, even when he flew out to left field in his first at bat. He doubled to the left center field wall, slapped an opposite field single to right, and rifled a single to center.
“He’s one of the best hitters in the country,” Wolfpack coach Mike Fournier said. “He hit the wall with a two-strike approach and no stride and that is something a 13-year old doesn’t do. He’s a freak.”
Schnider accounted for four of his team’s seven runs, with the most important run being his two-strike, opposite-field, RBI single in the fifth inning which made the score 3-0 and supplied his team with a much-needed insurance run.
“Earlier in the year I was coming around the ball and getting jammed a lot,” Schnider said. “This winter I worked on staying inside the ball and hitting to right center, and I made a lot more barrels. Not every ball goes to right-center but I’m thinking there. I’ve come a long way. I’ve been able to spray the ball all over the field and react to pitches. It doesn’t matter if they’re in or out.”
And just to show he wasn’t showing off for the Diamond Nation writing staff, Schnider proved he can barrel pitches when the press isn’t watching, too. He went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI in his team’s 11-5 decision over the Monmouth County Oilers late on Saturday evening.
With the pool play sweep, the Connecticut Wolfpack earned the fourth seed for the Gold Bracket playoffs and will face fifth-seeded Grizzlies Baseball in the quarterfinals on Sunday at 12:15 p.m. The semifinals are at 2:15 p.m. and the final is slated for 4:30 p.m.
The other Gold Bracket contestants may be headed for a short playoff stay. The Wolfpack is riding a seven-game winning streak, having won the Perfect Game New England Championship last week at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Mass, a 45-minute drive west from Boston.
While Schnider was knocking the ball around the yard, Wolfpack right-handers Brian Sine and Solomon Greenberg made sure Complete Game had no such luck getting its offense going.
With a two-seam fastball humming at 78 mph and a slider giving batters fits, Sine needed just 52 pitches to steam through his three shutout innings of work. He permitted just three baserunners over the minimum – two of those runners reached on throwing errors and the third was a fly ball lost in the sun.
Sine struck out seven while allowing one hit and no walks.
“I felt mainly I had to get inside and I’d mix in the quick step today because I like getting people off timing,” Sine said. “And when you set them up inside you can get some free heaters. Then you drop a slider and there you go, three outs.”
Sine, the team’s ace, pitched only three innings because the aim was to preserve him for a playoff or championship game.
“He’s our No. 1 so we try to use him in our first game to get on the board,” Fournier said. “He was staying a little bit more reserved because he wants to come back tomorrow. He did exactly what we wanted him to do, which is to be efficient.”
Complete Game’s Toma Cox is caught in a rundown between Wolfpack first baseman Brian Sine and shortstop Brooks Podolec.
Sine said he didn’t mind balancing the mental and physical challenges of going after hitters while saving himself for a future outing this weekend.
“I know that I’ve always loved facing the best teams and I love good competition, and I wanted to be on my A game for the playoffs,” Sine said. “It’s a balance. At some point you’re limited by pitches. I had to pull the plug in the third because I knew If I went past that I may not be able to give my full velocity tomorrow.”
Greenberg pitched the second half of the game and was equally efficient, allowing one hit and two walks over three shutout innings while striking out four.
Connecticut claimed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Brooks Podolec had an RBI groundout and Schnider ripped a run-scoring double which hit the left-center fence.
In the fifth, Schnider came up with two out and hit a two-strike single through the hole on the right side to score leadoff man Derek Huber for a 3-0 lead. Like Schnider, Huber also went 3-for-4 with a beautifully executed bunt single.
In the sixth, James Bailey hit a soft liner to right center to score two runs. Four batters later, Schnider smacked a liner through the middle to score two more runs and eat up the remaining seconds of the 1-hour, 50-minute game clock.
Complete Game starter Noah Kenkelen pitched well in the loss, allowing three runs on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts in five innings.
The only hard-hit ball Kenkelen gave up was Schnider’s double. Before that, Kenkelen was the victim of baseball’s version of bad luck.
In the third, Kenkelen gave up a one-out single to Huber which could have been a double-play ball, but it rolled through the hole at short because shortstop Vlad Zorilla was moving toward second with Jason Rader trying to steal. Instead, Rader went to third and Huber eventually stole second, setting up Schnider’s two-run double.