Madeira baseball attempts another spring run

MADEIRA – The names flow from the tip of your tongue if you've followed Madeira High School athletics.

Andrew Benintendi, Zack Jansen, John Michael Wyrick, Sam Bascom, Timmy James, Brad Almquist, Cass Nieman, Megan Stapleton.

They are merely a small sample of the talented athletes who graduated last spring. With that, some said the Mustangs/Amazons run in the Cincinnati Hills League would be over.

Someone forgot to tell the Madeira student body.

In the fall, Mike Shafer's football team was second in the league and made a playoff run with a starting quarterback and running back (Matt Ballweg and Jewels Edmerson) injured. Dan Brady also won another girls soccer title.

Over the winter, Jim Reynolds reworked and reshuffled his basketball team and shocked Wyoming.

This spring, in his first season since taking over the baseball program from Jack Kuzniczci, Scott Stocker won the CHL with back-to-back wins over Wyoming, 12-9 and 6-5 on May 8 and 10.

For Stocker, the answer is simple.

"It's our players," he said. "They jump into the program and continue to do what the kids have done before them. It's really fun to watch. Every year at Madeira kids step up."

Just like recent years, the Mustangs haven't had to turn in their uniforms in mid-May like many teams.

They began their Division III tournament run with a May 20 7-6 win over Clinton Massie and then took two days (with a rain interruption) to send Williamsburg home, 13-3 on May 21-22.

That set up a game with Chaminade-Julienne May 23 at Kings, a game in which they lost 11-0 in five innings.

Stocker's squad features just three seniors in top hitter Josh Lowndes and top pitchers Matt Ballweg and Ryan Gallenstein. There are five juniors, nine sophomores and three freshmen.

The "skinny" on Loannes Drive is the current 10th-graders might be the next up-and-coming class.

"It reminds me a lot of the sophomore class that was our senior class last year," Stocker said. "They're very strong in baseball and athletics. They love to compete and get it done."

Among the regulars, Lowndes and juniors Jake Hyatt and Kyle Rizzuto all hit over .400. Jake Anfinsen was the leading sophomore hitter and was among Madeira's leaders in earned run average along with Ballweg, Gallenstein, and sophomore Cameron McCullough.

"Any given day any of our kids can be the ace," Stocker said. "McCullough, Gallenstein and Ballweg have taken the bulk of our innings. Jake Megois has also thrown a lot too."

The first-year coach credits a strong junior varsity program and some good old-fashioned sweat equity for Madeira's successful season.

"I knew some projected well in starting varsity," Stocker said. "The others stepped it up in the offseason with lifting and conditioning and working hard."

The Mustangs are young, but are following the footsteps of former players they grew up watching. The hope every few years is that another group from the surrounding community does the same.

"I think it's a tradition with all of our athletics," Stocker said. "These kids believe they can win and they go out and get it done."