His top pitcher hasn’t stepped on the mound yet and arguably his best player hasn’t joined the team because of academic problems.
That’s the biggest reason why Mount St. Michael coach Wally Stampfel isn’t sounding the alarm after back-to-back losses to St. Raymond and Archbishop Stepinac.
“I have no problem with effort they’re giving me,” he said after a 6-3 loss at Stepinac Monday. “We’re going to get better as the season goes along.”
Ace Chris Maisonet came in to pinch hit in the seventh against Stepinac, but the senior hasn’t been able to throw yet because of arm stiffness. Sophomore middle infielder Chris Frederique will bat in the top of the lineup and start up the middle if he can get his grades in order.
Until that happens, Stampfel said, there are going to be some difficult losses early on.
“We’re slowly, but surely starting to find answers but we might be a little bit behind everyone at this point,” he said. “We’re struggling a bit right now, but I think we’re going to be fine.”
A two-base throwing error by leftfielder Jakeel Daniels led to three first-inning runs for Stepinac, which maintained that advantage until the fourth when designated hitter Adam Denker took Christian Huertas’ first pitch and deposited it over the fence in left to cut Mount’s deficit to 3-2 in the fourth inning.
Stepinac answered right back with three runs on six hits in the bottom of the inning and took a seemingly commanding 6-2 lead into the sixth. But Mount (1-2) refused to die. Denker led off the sixth with a double to right and scored on a groundout by Sal Kulka and the senior stepped up in the seventh with the bases loaded.
But Stepinac reliever Donato Signore struck out Denker with a slider to end the game.
Still, Stampfel is encouraged by his team’s fight.
“It keeps you going,” Stampfel said. “They’re playing hard. These guys as JV kids made it to the final four. They believe in themselves, I’m starting to believe in them a little bit, but we’ve still got some problems in the outfield we have to deal with.”