Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Young Vikings have potential

The record doesn't tell the whole story for the Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings baseball team.

VASJ is 4-14 overall, but had a stellar weekend with wins over Holy Name, 6-5, and defeated neighborhood rival Euclid, 6-3.

"We need to make the routine play in the field and play with some confidence even though we are young, and we have some arms now with our basketball players rounding into form (Simon Texidor and Jeff Grudzinski)," VASJ coach Scott Gray said. "We will go into the tournament as a lower seed, but if we play to our capabilities I don't think we are a team any team will necessarily want to see."

Texidor, Grudzinski, Danny Gail and David Paus give VASJ a solid pitching rotation and each of the four are starting to heat up at the plate as well.

The 6-3 win over the Panthers was especially nice for the Vikings and the importance of the victory was not lost on Gray.

"I had alumni who were very happy Saturday because I don't think we have beaten Euclid in a while," Gray said.

VASJ will play Cornerstone Christian in a Division IV sectional semi. The winner will travel to top seeded Cuyahoga Heights the following day.
 

Steve Harehttp://www.ohiovarsity.com
Steve Hare is the Chagrin Valley Conference's Sports Information Director. He also created and publishes OhioVarsity.com, an online publication dedicated to providing hyperlocal coverage to area high school athletic programs. Hare began covering high school sports for the Lake County News Herald in 1997. Hare attended Willoughby South High School through the middle of his senior year, then graduated from Berkshire High School in Burton in 1986. He played football, wrestled and was an all-Geauga county baseball player (1986). He lives in Chardon with his wife Paulette and their children.

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