Last time out on the diamond, the Newfield baseball team barely missed out on qualifying for the Section IV tournament. The Trojans’ 5-9 record left them one win shy of that magic .400 winning percentage needed to make the postseason. With most of the roster returning this year, they made sure to get over the hump.
The Trojans earned the 10th and final spot in the Class C bracket after finishing the regular season with a 6-9 mark. If the Trojans weren’t already motivated enough to make amends for last season’s shortcomings, they took even more inspiration from their most experienced players.
“We’ve got three seniors that have been with us for four years, and those guys have really put in the time and the effort,” said head coach Jeff Augustine. “They wanted to get back to sectionals, and I know that the other guys on the team wanted it and wanted to get them back to sectionals. The first conversation at the start of the season was, ‘What’s the goal for this year? What does it look like?’ And clearly it was sectionals.”
Two of those players who helped the Trojans get back to the big dance are a pair of twins. Michael and Nicholas Woodard have made their final baseball seasons worthwhile. That’s especially evident at the plate, as both put up a batting average north of .300.
“The twins are just grinders,” Augustine said. “That’s the thing that you absolutely love about them. They’ve worked really hard at baseball the past three years. This season they’re finally able to just pin their ears back and let it go, and you see the difference. You see the production offensively. You see that they’ve been connected to 80 percent of those double plays that we’ve turned this year. They’ve gotten to the point where they don’t have to think about the skill set. They can just play, and boy, can they play.”
Jackson Nelson is another senior who has made a big impact this year. Not only has he stood strong in the batter’s box with countless high-pitch at-bats, he also stepped up on the mound when sophomore Sawyer Aidun missed the majority of the season with an injury.
“He’s always been up for the challenge,” Augustine said. “We’ve needed someone to carry us through a game or work our way through a few extra hits. This year in particular, he’s been able to take the ball in key moments for us, and he’s been really effective. He’s an old school pitcher. He’s going to throw one hard. He’s going to throw one softer. He’s going to throw one overhead. He’s going to throw one kind of three-quarters. He’s going to quick pitch here. He’s going to hold it and count to four there. He uses all those different things to his advantage.”
That old-school style that Nelson brings to the rubber encapsulates the Trojans’ identity this season, especially when it comes to how they operate on the base paths.
“We work on getting to first base,” Augustine said. “We work on moving around the bases. We work on creating as much chaos and pressure as we can in the meantime, really having a disciplined eye at the plate, making sure that when we attack a pitch that’s a strike, and making sure that when we get on first base, we work our way around to third as quickly as possible.”
A microcosm of that style of play can be found in how they got their lone run in their 7-1 loss at Marathon in the first round of the Class C tournament on May 20. After Noah Steinorth was hit by a pitch, Gavin Jenney’s single moved Steinorth over to third base on a hit-and-run play. Tanner Ray then laid down a bunt to score Steinorth on a squeeze play.
Like the Woodard twins and Nelson, Steinorth has also been on the team for four years. The junior started out playing as an outfielder back in middle school, but ever since he switched to being a catcher, he has been a reliable force behind the plate to complement his consistent bat, posting a team-best .379 batting average this year.
“He’s a brick wall behind the plate defensively, which lets the pitchers settle in,” Augustine said. “They know they can throw whichever pitch they want. It doesn’t matter who’s on third, he’s going to keep the ball in front of them, and that just lets them be as versatile as possible.”
Although Newfield’s run in the tourney came to an abrupt end, the future is bright for the program with many key returning pieces. What also helps is that they’ll join forces soon in the Babe Ruth baseball league, which assistant coach Ian Valentine helped bring back to town.
“These guys have played together at a variety of different age levels and groups to make it all work,” Augustine said. “Those extra opportunities to play together during the summer, that’s really important stuff, and you have to look at Coach Valentine and say, “Look, man, this is what you’ve created by doing that.’”
