Electric turned off by Snyder, Troyer in 8-1 Knights victory
With a forecast of Tommy John surgery on the horizon, it was thought that Snyder would be lost for the year. However, a bright spot in the clouds began to appear when Snyder began throwing, tentatively at first, and then harder over time.
All season long, West Holmes head coach Kurt McDowell and the Knights coaching staff have been working with Snyder, easing him back to pitching strength, trying to build up his arm strength and confidence, just to get him ready for this very opportunity, to throw at tournament time.
The Knights have struggled at times as he went from one inning to two, two to three and eventually four, but it seems to have paid off handsomely following West Holmes 8-1 throttling of Philo in the Div. II Sectional opener in Zanesville on Tuesday, May 14.
“We’ve been working on building up Gabe’s arm strength and confidence to throw all season, and he did a great job for us when we needed him to,” said McDowell. “It was a great effort.”
Snyder threw four solid innings of one hit ball, allowing only an unearned run in the top of the first inning, and the Knights scored six in a second inning that saw them bat around the lineup, and West Holmes never looked back.
In a game in which everyone figured West Holmes was a lock to win, McDowell said that any kind of thinking other than playing great baseball can be dangerous come tournament time.
“I’ve seen stranger things happen, so we knew we had to be prepared and ready to play,” said McDowell. “We will not take anything for granted at this point.”
After spotting the Electric to a 1-0 lead, West Holmes put their bats to good use in the wild second inning.
Some big hits, a couple of bloopers and a pair of walks factored into the huge inning that took all the pressure off West Holmes and dumped it on the shoulders of the Electric.
Scott Troyer came through with a big two-run hit and Levi Jones laced a double as part of the barrage.
“I think pretty much everyone contributed that inning,” said McDowell. “Scotty had a big two-run hit, Keaton had an RBI double and so did Levi. We took advantage of what they gave us, and we really hit the ball well.”
After Snyder gave West Holmes exactly what they needed, Troyer came in and finished the job, going the final three frames allowing no runs on just two hits, striking out a pair.
Vayden Wood, Leppla and Troyer each had two hits, while Dillon Baird, Snyder and Jones all added one apiece.
“Scotty was on from the beginning,” said McDowell of Troyer. “He really looked sharp all three innings he threw.”
With the win, West Holmes improved to 16-7 on the year, but more importantly, they are now 1-0 in the second season, the one that really matters the most.