Sports
Analysis: Playing Indoors Doesn't Cut it for Evergreen Park
Mustangs finally get the chance to step outside, and their winter rust showed as Chicago Christian starter Jeremy Kamp shut them down in an 11-0 baseball victory on Wednesday.
Playing baseball inside can go only so far to recreate the atmosphere of an actual game. On Wednesday afternoon, Evergreen Park found this out first-hand in an 11-0 six-inning loss to Chicago Christian.
Evergreen Park coach Mark Smyth said the Mustangs' only chance to practice outside before Wednesday’s opener was a little bit on Monday and Tuesday.
Mustang starting pitcher Ben Modesitt is the team's No. 1 option. He has enjoyed much better outings than Wednesday’s performance where Chicago Christian scored six runs in two innings.
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“It could be first-game jitters, it could be his first time being outside,” Smyth said of Modesitt’s performance. “He’s a much better pitcher than he showed. Hopefully, it was just one of the cases from the first time being outside."
Chicago Christian already had the chance to play on Monday in its 9-1 victory over Bloom, and coach Eric Brauer said he could already tell a difference in his players on Wednesday.
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“Getting guys some at-bats on Monday, today it was guys’ sixth, seventh, eighth at-bats of the year," Brauer said. "So, guys were seeing the ball better. We had some nice adjustments from Monday to (Wednesday)."
As it turned out, the Knights didn’t even need that much offense because of the dominating performance starting pitcher Jeremy Kamp put in. Kamp finished five scoreless innings with nine strikeouts.
“We expect good things out of Jeremy (Kamp),” Brauer said.
Kamp has played on the varsity level for four years.
“He really had good control today, throwing a lot of strikes,” Brauer said.
Kamp said he was relying on his fastball most of the game.
“I was fastball, outside corner, all day," he said. "I was just living there. And then I threw a curve every once and a while to keep them on their toes.”
What’s Next: Chicago Christian hosts Lisle on Friday. Junior Trent Overzet will start his second game of the season. Overzet (1-0) won his first outing in Chicago Christian’s 9-1 victory over Bloom on Monday. Brauer said Overzet had a low pitch count on Monday.
Evergreen Park starting pitcher Ben Modesitt will get a quick chance to right his ship with a start on Monday against Illiana Christian. Smyth said his team will work on communicating with one another before the game.
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