Demon Steve Dunn, who had a great day at the plate, warms up before the game at Jacobs Field. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Demons put on a show at the Jake
By Matt Pawlikowski
Sports
Published May 9, 2007

It’s been a week for Westlake players that they will never forget. First they make history at the school by becoming the first team to play under the lights at Westlake.

Then over the weekend, players from the team got a chance to live a dream, as they took on Avon Lake in the fourth annual Hardball Classic at Jacobs Field, and played like the home team Cleveland Indians in pummeling the Shoremen 7-1.

“Our first couple at bats, we were pressing it a bit,” said Westlake coach Jeff Short. “But I talked to the kids, and then we started to do what we wanted to do.”

On a sun-drenched afternoon, the Demons got on the board first in the third inning, when James DiBiasio scored off a fielder’s choice by Danny Lammers. Steve Dunn then hit a single that scored Samuel Abed, who singled earlier in the inning. That gave the Demons the winning run, as pitcher Kyle Speicher was solid, holding the Shoremen in check.

The Demons would add three more runs over the next two innings, as Abed would again score in the fourth inning on an RBI by Lammers, who also would cross the plate.

Avon Lake’s only run of the game came on an interesting play, where Peyton Armbrecht beat out what seemed to be a double play that would have ended the inning. It allowed Chris Meyer to score from third.

In the fifth inning, Matt McCallister, who clobbered a double, scored off a Travis Winer infield sacrifice to make it a 5-1 game. Westlake scored its other two runs in the seventh inning.

Players from both teams were just thrilled by the experience. Take the Demons’ DiBiasio, who turned a few nice double plays in the game, including one in the fourth inning.

“It’s an incredible feeling playing on the same field as Robbie Alomar, and Omar Vizquel, who are all heroes of mine,” said the junior secondbaseman. “It gives you a taste of how incredible it must really be to play in the majors.”

Avon Lake’s Chris Meyer echoed DiBiasio’s sentiments.

“It was amazing being out here on this stage,” he said. “So many great games here, World Series games were played here. It’s nice to be out here.”

Give credit to the Demons Kyle Speicher, who tossed a nice game. The junior, now 3-1 on the year, pitched six solid innings allowing just one earned run, and four hits, while striking out two.

“I try to focus more on my control than my fastball,” said Speicher. “I pretty much was working with my two-seam fastball and curveball, and it helped me get out of jams. This was amazing here.”

Asked about the Demons, Shoremen coach Jeff Stratton didn’t hesitate to give his thoughts.

“They’re a pretty good team,” said Stratton about the Demons. “We gave them opportunities and they took advantage of them. That’s what good teams do. They capitalized. You can’t do that against a good team. They put them up. It’s the way it’s been going.”

Not that the seven runs should be unexpected, as Westlake put 25 runs on the board against Olmsted Falls on Thursday, and has been smacking the ball great as of late, batting over .400 as a team.

While Short was glad to get the win, he said for the kids to have this opportunity is something special.

“The Indians organization treated you first class,” Short said. “You get to take batting practice before the game, and it’s just a great experience for the kids to be able to do that. I told them after the game that 15 years from now, they will be able to tell their sons about this.”