Wadsworth Community Radio

chris byersIt was cold and windy on Saturday and the sun was nowhere to be found. But it didn’t matter. The Wadsworth High School baseball team warmed things up as they took on GlenOak High School in their first outdoor scrimmage of the year.

High school baseball scrimmages are similar to, but not the same as Major League Baseball pre-season games. If the scrimmage was played as a regularly scheduled game, Wadsworth would have won 3-2. But, the game was played for 9 innings.

During the game, coaches from both Wadsworth and GlenOak moved players around without having to tell a scorer or an umpire. The batting order, in Wadsworth’s case, was 14 hitters long, instead of the usual 9. The lengthy line-up was employed to allow the hitters the chance to see live pitching.

GlenOak played in their warm-up gear that did not have numbers on the back. As you can tell, the game was played to get players, coaches and umpires used to playing the game of baseball.

For Wadsworth, right-handed pitcher Chris Byers worked five innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, walked one and struck out four. The most impressive aspect of Byers performance was working out of a bases-loaded, no out jam in his fifth inning of work without allowing a run. Byers did that by getting a GlenOak batter to hit into a 1-2-3 double play and getting the next batter to ground to second.

Wadsworth will have another scrimmage on Monday afternoon against Jackson at home with game time set for 4:30. The season begins Saturday, March 28 when the Grizzlies take on Chippewa High School in Doylestown in a doubleheader that begins at 11 a.m.

Categories: Sports

Joe Jastrzemski

Joe has spent most of his professional life covering sports, from the pros to high school, both boys and girls. He is currently the PA voice of Cleveland State Sports, Ursuline College basketball and Highland High School Basketball.