When DeMatha head baseball coach Sean O’Connor was asked about his opinion on the season he said, “It’s what we have expected.” DeMatha is eighteen games into the season and has a 9-9 record overall. They recently beat The Heights 6-2 and last Monday they beat Riverdale Baptist, one of the top teams in the area.
DeMatha has got into a grove lately as they have won 3 out of the last 5 games. For the Stags it’s good that they have finally got the hang of things since they started the season 1-4. “We had some weaknesses we had to work on and now we are starting to play better,” Coach O’Connor commented. “We have pitched really well. Our defense has really come along and we had some timely hitting,” the coach also stated.
For the Stags pitching is their strength as the team’s ERA is 2.39. Seniors Andy Rozylowicz, Jack Alkire, and Brad Thaxton has been the primary reason pitching has been good this season. Andy has an ERA of 1.72 and has a 4-2. Jack leads the team in strikeouts with 53 and he supports a 2.23 ERA. Despite having a 1-4 record, Brad Thaxton pitched very well and his 1.96 ERA shows that.
Even though the pitching has been good, hitting on the other has not been so spectacular. This season, the team has a .195 batting average. “I like to get more hits. But that’s a product of injuries. We have good pitching in our league, but we will get out of it,” Coach O’Connor said. The one bright spot in the team’s batting is senior Andrew Keith. Keith has a .349 batting average with 6 RBI’s. In Saturday’s win against the Heights, the Stags hit the ball well as they drove in six runs and one of those runs came from a solo home run by senior Josh Tejeda.
One thing the coach has noticed about the team is their confidence. “We are playing a little nervous and a little less confident,” O’Connor said. The coach also added, “We need to work on our confidence.”
DeMatha has seven games left in the season. Coach O’Connor has high expectations going down the round, “Hopefully we win our last seven games which will be a clean sleet going into the playoffs,” he said. “I think we are going to compete. Hopefully get through the Quarterfinals. If we get through the one and done games, we have a really good shot at winning the WCAC.”
The next game the Stags play is on Monday against Bishop Ireton.
Ryan McFadden is the President of Inside The Locker Room and the sports writer for the DeMatha Stagline. Ryan is an advent DC sports fan and covers mostly high school sports for Inside The Locker Room. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @RMcFadden15
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