Pitching lifts Ryle baseball to strong season

By James Weber • jweber@nky.com  See Pitching lifts Ryle baseball to strong season

UNION – The offense of the Ryle High School baseball team has struggled at times, but the pitching staff has been on top of its game all year.  The Raiders allow less than four runs per game this year from the pitching mound, a key reason why they had an 18-7 record through May 11.

“That’s been our strong suit,” said head coach Pat Roesel. “We’ve been giving ourselves chances in basically every game and we’ve come through most of the time.”

Ryle has won eight of its last nine games and allowed four runs or less in all of those wins.  Seniors Matt Gorbandt, Tyler O’Bryan and Matt Isler have been the top starters this season.  Gorbandt is 5-1 with a 3.12 ERA. O’Bryan is 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA. Isler is 1-1, 2.80.   Junior Nick Pomfrey has two wins on the mound and junior Brian Comora three. Brian Ernst picked up his first win in a 9-2 victory over Scott May 11.

“We’re taking better at-bats and getting better pitches,” said senior Caleb Lonkard. “We have solid pitching and we’re playing solid overall.”  Lonkard, after batting leadoff most of his Ryle career, was switched to the three spot in the order early this season, setting up cleanup batter Conner Hempel.
Senior Daniel Etscheid has been in the leadoff spot, with junior Mitch Lawson second.

“I hadn’t been hitting that well at the beginning of the year,” Lonkard said. “He put me in the three spot and since then I’ve been getting more hits.”  O’Bryan, fifth in the order, leads the team in hitting at .474.   Lonkard is hitting .300 and leads the team in RBI, and Etscheid and Hempel are at .333. Etscheid leads the team in runs scored.   Roesel said getting more key hits from the Raiders will be crucial in the postseason, as at times they have struggled with runners in scoring position.  

Ryle is the two seed in the 33rd District Tournament and will play Conner in one semifinals. Boone County and Cooper square off in the other.  Before then, Ryle has two games with Beechwood scheduled and others with local contenders Holy Cross and Covington Catholic. The team just likes playing again after the wet April.   “We’ve been itching to get out here with all the rain,” Lonkard said. “You get to play every day. You can’t ask for that in any other sport. If you have one bad game, then don’t hang your head because you play the next day and get better.”