FINDLAY — The recipe for Northview baseball coach Aaron Tullis and his Wildcats team this season has been relatively straightforward — respect every game and every opponent, throw strikes on the mound, put the ball in play on offense, and field the ball cleanly.
Simple in theory and devastating when executed, Northview perfected its formula in a 7-0 win at Liberty-Benton on Thursday night.
“In a nonleague game against a highly ranked opponent, the goal is obviously to respect everybody,” Tullis said. “Our goal, especially with our young guys throwing, is to throw strikes, keep the ball in play, and be clean defensively.
“I thought we did a really nice job of that tonight. Our infielders played exceptionally well. It helps when you get two runs in the first and two in the second, it takes the pressure off a young sophomore who threw for us tonight.”
Northview, ranked No. 12 in the state in Division I, got five shutout innings from sophomore Carson Holmes, who combined with Gavin Smith and Nick Schantz to scatter five hits in shutting down Liberty-Benton, the state's No. 4 team in Division III.
Holmes was able to command his fastball to effectively set up his off-speed stuff, and he limited a potent Eagles lineup to four hits with two walks and two strikeouts in just his second varsity start.
“It felt really good with Josh [Sprenger] behind the plate giving me good pitches and I knew I had a good defense behind me,” Holmes said. “I was just throwing strikes to get outs. We try to get ahead of the hitters when we pitch. I like to pound the zone, and when I'm doing that I can get outs and get through innings.”
Said Tullis: “Carson is our normal starting right fielder. This is his second varsity start ever, but he comes from a polished summer program and does a really nice job of throwing strikes. He throws a good fastball that moves a little bit and throws a good off-speed pitch. He did a nice job of keeping guys off balance.”
Northview scored with an RBI groundout from Charlie Paulson and an RBI double from Christian Berling in the top of the first. The Wildcats doubled their lead in the second on an RBI single from Colin Tomanski and another run that scored via a Liberty-Benton error.
“That's our goal every game, to get on the board first,” Tullis said. “It allows our pitchers to settle in. I have a veteran pitching staff that throws our league games and our big games and they throw much better ahead. It allows us to stay ahead and that is our goal to attack hitters and force them to hit our pitch.
“We play for one run usually in the first inning if we can get it, and to score two is a bonus, especially against a really quality opponent.”
The Wildcats got their insurance in the fifth inning when Sprenger crushed a bases-clearing, three-RBI triple.
“I was just trying to stay inside of the ball, and a big thanks to everyone before me to get on base and put me in that situation,” Sprenger said. “We've been swinging the bat well lately and putting the bat on the ball, and it was just a really good team win. We feel really good right now, and we feel like we are all clicking.”
With an early cushion, the Wildcats played flawlessly in the field, making it very tough on Liberty-Benton's comeback effort.
“Against a good team like that, you can't get behind early because they make you earn everything,” Liberty-Benton coach Matt Rader said. “They made every single play all night.
“When you get behind like that you are playing catch-up the entire night, and it's just hard against those guys. You really have to earn it. Their kid did a really good job of locating and keeping us off balance.”
With rival Southview on the schedule on Friday, Tullis and his staff did everything they could to put the team in the best position to win the big nonleague game against Liberty-Benton before a key Northern Lakes League matchup.
“Every game in northwest Ohio is big, and we show up and we try to win every game,” Tullis said. “Our mindset this year has been one-game seasons, and today was our one game season and we showed up and responded. [Friday] we'll figure out how to go attack a really good Southview team.”
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