East Aurora Advertiser

Blue Devils Surprise Depew with Decisive Win



The temperature on Center Street on the afternoon of April 29 dropped into the 40s, the mud oozed under our feet and the highly ranked Depew Wildcats jumped out to a 4-0 lead with three hits and two Blue Devil errors. It looked like a long, uncomfortable afternoon for baseball players and their fans.

Danny Farrell takes off after a hit when East Aurora played Springville Griffith on April 24.
Photo by Amy Baase

But the Blue Devils came back with one run in the bottom of the first on Nate Mucci’s RBI groundout that scored Dominic Zittel. Pitcher Alex Baase, in his fifth varsity season, retired the Wildcats quickly in the second, thanks to a strikeout and a beautiful throw from catcher Zittel, who gunned down a would-be base stealer. In the third the senior co-captain set them down in order again. That set the stage for the breakout third inning.

Zittel, Baase, and Lucas Juliano led off the inning with long doubles that hit and died in the soft turf. They might have been triples or more on a dry field. Nate Mucci and Danny Farrell contributed RBI singles and suddenly the hosts held a 5-4 lead over the visiting Wildcats who frantically changed pitcher, but to no avail.

Nate Mucci and Calvin Roberts try to grab an infield fly in their game against Akron on April 23.
Photo by Amy Baase

It didn’t stop there. Zittel led off the fourth with another towering double, Baase smacked a double that he turned into three bases on a dropped throw, Juliano had a single, Mucci bunted deftly for another base hit, Jeremy Kruger walked, Calvin Roberts went to first on catcher’s interference, Will Covington added a single, Zittel, up for the second time in the inning, was hit by a pitch, driving in a run and Baase singled for his second at bat of the inning. When the smoke cleared, the Blue Devils had six more runs on six hits for an 11-4 advantage.

Depew never threatened again as Baase continued his dominance, allowing just one hit after the first inning. Covington, Zittel, Baase, Juliano and Mucci had multi-hit games while Zittel, Baase, Juliano and Farrell had two RBIs each.  Suddenly the ECIC Division III leaders looked vulnerable to an underrated but dynamic Blue Devil squad.

The Blue Devils had shown evidence of offensive potential the previous week when they pounded Akron for 16 runs in a 16-6 rout that included two five-run innings. Once again Baase had a big game with a pitching victory, four runs scored and a three-run home run that cleared the left centerfield fence with room to spare. Coach Steve Sokolski estimated it as a 375-foot blast. Juliano had a huge day at the plate as well with two singles, a double and a triple for seven RBIs. Zittel plated two teammates.

The wins put the Blue Devils at 4-3 heading into May with a busy schedule ahead to get in all the games that were postponed because of the arctic weather in April. Seven games into the season, Baase and Juliano lead East Aurora with nine RBIs, Mucci has 12 hits and a .500 batting average, while Baase’s on base plus slugging percentage is a very impressive 1.329. Roberts is a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases.

Dom Zittel makes the play at third in the game against Akron.
Photo by Amy Baase

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