Brentwood baseball swinging hot bats down the stretch
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Friday, May 4, 2018 | 11:00 PM
Countless hours in the batting cage have had a positive effect on the Brentwood baseball team.
Heading down the home stretch of the season, seven players were hitting .300 or better, propelling the Spartans to second place in the section.
As a team, Brentwood was hitting close to .400.
“The success to hitting is our approach. We are simply aggressive early in the at-bat,” coach Greg Perdziola said. “In doing so, our confidence as hitters has really improved.”
Jayneil Latham has made a huge impact in his sophomore season, hitting a team-leading .500 and driving in a team-high 16 runs.
“Jayneil is very smart player, and he's very coachable,” Perdziola said. “He plays in the infield or outfield depending on who is pitching (for Brentwood).
“His biggest strength is that he can hit the ball the other way, which is something we teach, but not every player can do it.”
The versatile Latham is complemented offensively by a trio of .400 hitters in senior outfielder Austin Veatch (.474), senior pitcher/infielder Easton Klein (.459) and junior catcher Brandon Griener (.412).
Other leading hitters include junior DH Logan Keach (.393), senior first baseman Kevin Brown (.385), sophomore shortstop Zach Keib (.308) and senior outfielder Brendan Donnelly (.273).
Latham, Klein, Griener, Keach and Brown also have racked up double figures in RBIs.
“We have really been hitting the ball well in our last seven or eight games,” Perdziola. “I knew Veatch and Klein were going to hit well, but Latham, Griener, Brown and Keach have been pleasant surprises.
“Latham has been the biggest surprise. He consistently hits the ball the other way. Veatch has shown some power with two home runs in our last two games.”
After a slow start with only two wins in its first five games, Brentwood strung together eight victories in nine contests, including seven in a row.
“I don't think there's really been a key, perse (to the winning streak),” said Veatch, a three-sport athlete who plans to continue his football career at Marietta. “I think we're making the routine plays, and our pitchers are throwing strikes. Also, we're hitting the ball through the roof.
“We've been playing really well. Our pitching is getting better game by game, and that was our biggest concern. Also, we don't make many errors, so as long as we're hitting, we're going to be hard to beat.”
In the pitching department, Griener led the team in wins with a 3-0 record, followed by Veatch at 2-0. Latham was 1-1. Klein fanned a team-high 29 batters in 20 innings, and Brown logged 14 strikeouts in eight innings.
With two league games remaining, the Spartans were 9-3 in Section 3-2A, and 9-4 overall.
“I really think it all comes down to confidence,” Perdziola said. “We want to be aggressive at the plate and that is what we are doing. We have seen some of the best pitchers in our section and have done very well against them. We need to continue our aggressive approach.”
Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.
Tags: Brentwood
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