When they needed them the most, the Tartan Pride couldn’t muster the runs to survive.
The 2011 Sinclair baseball season ended with a 5-1 loss to OCCAC rival Cuyahoga Community College, a game where the Pride had only 5 hits.
“We just didn’t swing the bats,” coach Steve Dintaman said.
The regional opened with a tough game against Muskegon Community College. Going into the game, Dintaman said he told the team to pitch around Ched Gaskin, a powerful bat in the Muskegon lineup.
Tartan Pride starter Austin Pressly quickly allowed what Dintaman called two “seeing-eye singles,” putting two men on base for Gaskin in the top of the first inning with no outs.
Dintaman said that Pressly left a fastball over the plate to Geskin, and before they knew it, the Pride were down 3-0.
From that point on, Pressly allowed only one more run. For the game, he threw seven innings, allowed eight hits, four runs (all earned), walked two and struck out four. Dintaman called the start great.
The offense managed one run in the third inning and two more in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough. They fell 4-3.
That loss put Sinclair in the loser’s bracket, and later that day Sinclair faced Jackson Community College. The Pride sent Jeremiah Kerns to the mound.
The offense only managed one run for Kerns, but that was all he needed. The Pride won 1-0.
Dintaman said Kerns called it the best start of his career, and Dintaman said he won the game for them with his three-hit shutout of Jackson. Kerns allowed six total base runners and struck out 10.
The Pride wouldn’t play their next game until Monday due to rainouts. They ended up facing Cuyahoga, and lost 5-1 to end the season.
Dintaman said he might look back at the season, once the moment has passed, and feel disappointment.
“We had a great group,” Dintaman said. “We easily could have done more.”
The Pride finish with a record of 34-15.
“They’ll go down as a team that gave us an OCCAC championship,” Dintaman said.