High school baseball: Brunswick loses, but coach says they're moving in the right direction

STRONGSVILLE — Despite a 7-3 Greater Cleveland Conference loss to Strongsville on Thursday, coach Grant Relic had positive words for his Brunswick baseball team afterward, especially considering the Blue Devils had lost to the Mustangs 9-1 just three days earlier."We were definitely proud, and that was the message afterwards," Relic said. "From what happened on Monday to today, we were in it. The kids competed. We battled the entire time."Strongsville jumped to a 5-0 lead with a run in the first, three in the second and another in the third, but, like Relic said, his young team stayed in the game and cut the lead to 5-3 after five.The Blue Devils (8-10, 4-3) scored their first run in the fourth inning when junior Jake Tamosiunas doubled and came home on a single by junior Ian Kuhn."We got down early, so it was definitely important to try to get something going, get our pitchers confidence back, get some runs on the board," Tamosiunas said. "We needed to try to get the team going, get some hits, any way to get on base. So it was big push."Seniors Kyle Smigla and Elijah Poindexter led off the fourth with back-to-back singles and moved up on a groundout by freshman Riley Turnick. With junior Landon Jack at the plate, Smigla scored on a wild pitch and Jack drove in Poindexter with a sacrifice fly."We just constantly preach to keep battling, keep sticking together," Relic said. "That's the only thing we can do at this point."That was all the offense Brunswick could muster, however, and Strongsville (13-4, 7-1) added two insurance runs in the sixth inning to ice the game.The Blue Devils had just six hits, led by Turnick with two, but Brunswick also drew five walks, including two in the first inning against Strongsville starter Jon Glinsky, who eventually got out of the inning without allowing any hits or runs.Despite not scoring, the Blue Devils accomplished part of their goal to come out with more fire than Monday."We definitely brought the energy early in the first inning," Smigla said. "I think it took took them five batters to get us out of the inning, but I swear it was like a 30-minute inning. It was unbelievable. We were just working counts, trying to get their pitch count up, trying to hit the ball backside and get on base and try to manufacture a run because getting ahead at the start is just so important against a rival team and anybody in our conference."The Blue Devils will take a break from conference play today with a game against Avon Lake before getting back to the GCC on Monday and Tuesday against Medina (14-3, 6-1) and Thursday against Euclid (2-7, 0-5).Brunswick is hoping that getting back on the field regularly after having the second game against Strongsville moved twice this week because of Northeast Ohio weather."If we can get back going (today), playing back-to-back days, we can get our confidence back up against a team like Avon Lake, because they're going to be good," Smigla said. "But with playing on Monday and then not playing until Thursday, it kind of sucks, because we're sitting around like, 'Are we going to play? Are we not going to play?"'There also is a feeling that getting to play on an almost daily basis will lead to some consistency at the plate."If we can get games in consistently, we get one (today), we have four next week, four the following week, if we can get those games in, that's it's really good for the bats," Relic said. "It's good, for everybody to consistently be out there, whether it's our team or anybody else. I think it's more of a confidence thing, not having a couple days off after a loss. We just want to keep playing, and we don't want the season to end. We want these guys to be together as long as they can."For the next couple of weeks, the wins and losses from the first 18 games will not be a matter of importance."I just told these guys at this point in the season, the records are out the window," Relic said. "You're really trying to get hot at the right time. We have Medina coming up and then tournament draw and all that kind of stuff, and it's a matter of just getting going in the right direction."Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Strongsville 7, Brunswick 3BRUNSWICK 000 120 0 — 3 6 2STRONGSVILLE 131 002 x — 7 9 1WP — Jon Glinsky 5 innings, 3 runs, 3 earned, 5 hits, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts. LP — Nolan Burke (1-3) 4 1/3 innings, 5 runs, 4 earned, 6 hits, 3 walks, 2 hit batters, 3 strikeouts. Brunswick (8-10, 4-3) — Jake Tamosiunas double, walk, run; Riley Turnick 2 singles, walk. Strongsville (13-4, 7-1) — Murphy Kelley 2 singles, walk, 2 RBIs; Evan Gyurko single, 2 hit by pitch, 2 runs; Jon Glinsky single, walk, 2 RBIs; Grant LePage single, 2 walks, run.