Tough Spring for Blue Devil Baseball
A baseball season can get very long in a hurry when a team isn't winning. The Huntington High School baseball squad endured just such a tough year, finishing with a 2-17 mark.
The Blue Devils were coached by Greg Kalkau and Keith Flynn and captained by seniors Vinny McCarty, Jimmy Oliva and Matt Curley and sophomore Rob Fiato.
Despite the lopsided won-loss record, several players turned in solid seasons. Sophomore Jake Freitag batted .341 with 14 hits, eight runs scored and a team-high four stolen bases. Oliva, a talented senior, banged out 15 hits, including three doubles, a triple and a homerun, drove in eight runs and compiled a .326 batting average.
Curley also enjoyed a splendid year, hitting safely 14 times, including five doubles and a homerun, scoring seven runs and knocking in five. His .311 average put him among the Blue Devil leaders.
"It was a tough year," Curley said. "We had many close games. Unfortunately, our biggest problem was that we could never finish the games the way we wanted. Personally, I had the type of year that I was hoping for, but if the team doesn't win, it doesn't matter how I did. It wasn't enough."
Senior Tyler Macca (.286 batting average, 14 hits, three doubles and a team-best nine bases on balls), junior Joey Dillhoff (.286 batting average, eight hits), McCarty (.286 batting average, 12 hits), senior Ryan Fullam (10 hits) and Fiato (12 hits, including a double and homerun) were among the offensive mainstays.
"Although we didn't win a lot, we had a fun year and I enjoyed being on the field with all those guys," Curley said. "I'm going to miss playing with people like Jimmy Oliva, who I've played with for so long."
Huntington's pitching staff was headed up by freshman Kevin Pimentel, McCarty, Freitag and Oliva. Each of the pitchers picked up his respective fair share of strikeouts, fanning nearly one batter per inning on the hill.
With All-League underclassmen Jake Freitag and Kevin Pimentel and Academic All-League honoree Rob Fiato returning next spring, the Blue Devils will look to be more competitive.