Great streaks don’t happen by accident, and in baseball they don’t often happen as the result of just an individual either. Usually, a great accomplishment is the result of a lot of work from a lot of players and coaches, guys selling out for each other and believing in their system. It might sound like it’s June and we’re talking about a championship team—actually, we’re talking about a feat much rarer. Namely, the Millikan Rams’ start to the 2009 season: after the first round of Moore League play, after six games, they still have yet to allow a run. Halfway through the season, the Rams have scored 58 runs, and allowed none—42 consecutive scoreless innings, with no errors, the first time in city history a squad has begun a season in such fashion.
Eight games into the nonleague season, it was hard to forecast the way the Rams’ accomplishment, and their two-game hold on first place in the league—Millikan started just 2-6, and it looked like it might be a long season. Then, something changed, says coach Scott Glasser. “We started coming together—it wasn’t a gradual thing, it was just a commitment—they were frustrated with losing and they figured that selfish play wasn’t going to get it going.”
The team has gelled, in the way great teams do, but with a senior-laden roster they’ve done it very early in the season. Glasser says his team’s motto has been “Win with class, lose with dignity.” But after the frustrating start, “I got tired of saying lose with dignity, so I just started saying win with class,” he says. “I didn’t even want to plant that seed.”
There are some obvious big figures who deserve credit, including Glasser, ace pitchers Josh Frye and Andrew Culver, and big bat Jon Singleton, the Rams’ preseason All-American. Those players have gotten their ink over the last month (and are likely to continue to), but as Glasser pointed out following his team’s victory over Jordan, a defensive shutout, not to mention six strung together, is the product of a whole program working together, from the starting pitcher to the bullpen catcher.
It comes from guys like Ralph Davis, the Rams’ starting shortstop. Last year, Davis rushed plays, and committed crucial errors. This year, Glasser says he’s the Rams’ biggest turnaround. “He’s slowed it down, he’s throwing the ball accurate, he’s been amazing this season.”
Davis’ miracle path to improvement? “A lot of defensive drills, on the practice field and at home. Just consistent, hard work.” Consistent, hard work could be this team’s motto—Davis’ individual work has been a huge leg up to his team. Among other plays, he’s fielded two critical double plays in the league schedule, getting them out of a bind against Lakewood, and against Poly.
There’s Emmy Antonaras, the Rams’ catcher who hasn’t let a single pitch get behind him all season (“Knock on wood,” he says with a smile). Antonaras reiterates that Millikan’s gotten to the place where they are the old-fashioned way. “Everyone’s just playing solid and doing their job. Our pitchers have good stuff and they throw for strikes—with our defense that’s all they really need to do.”
That defense, almost all of whom are returning varsity players, has backed their pitchers up impressively. As well as Frye and Culver work, the Rams are getting their outs in the field, and not at the plate—in their shutout of Lakewood last week, Frye struck out just three batters.
One group that’s much improved, even if they’re not seeing all that much action, is the Rams’ outfielders. “They’re all savvy,” says Glasser. “And they didn’t use to be—I don’t even have to put in adjustments anymore.”
“Yeah, but we don’t do too much,” says Adam Annella. “Just jog out, get in position, and watch Frye and Culver deal up. We haven’t had to run down too many guys.”
Cody Hazel likes the way his team supports each other. “We have a small roster,” he says, “But I think we have the most heart.” Annella agrees. “Everyone’s into the game—guys are yelling for all seven innings.”
The list could go on—third basemen Matt Clampitt has come up huge in crunch time, credit has to go to assistants Kevin Marchae and Ron Keester, and…well, when nobody’s dropped a fly ball or muffed a grounder, everyone deserves to get a little ink. Here’s the Rams who have contributed to the historic streak: Front Row: Catchers Josh Valdovinos and Emmy Antonaras; Row 2: 3B Matt Clampitt (not pictured), SS Ralph Davis, Pitchers Josh Frye and Andrew Culver, 2B Brandon Dopplick, 1B Jon Singleton; Row 3: LF Paul Slater (not pictured) Adam Anella and Tanner Lowrey, CF Brandon Sadler, RF Cody Hazel; Back Row: Coach Scott Glasser, assistants Kevin Marchae and Ron Keester.
As important as the hard work before and during games has been, the Rams acknowledge their good fortune this season, too—as Lakewood coach Spud O’Neil put it, “Everything is bouncing their way this season.” If their game against the Lancers wasn’t on their home field at 1:30pm (because of Open House), if it had instead been at Blair or in the evening, does Lakewood’s left fielder not lose the ball in the sun, and commit the error that scored two Rams? Does the game go eleven innings and see the Lancers scoring the first run? If Millikan doesn’t catch a sleeping Lancer baserunner in a pick at second, does the single their next batter hits drive him home? These questions (and those are just two from just one game) don’t need answering: that’s what makes a streak great, it almost becomes tangible, something you can put your hand on. It erases doubts and questions.
It also inspires confidence, a confidence Glasser says has always been there with his experienced squad. “I heard a comment in the dugout from [second basemen] Brandon Dopplick the other day. He said, ‘We’re in the paper on the front page today. All of a sudden our principals, our teachers are sending messages out. Everyone’s acting surprised—we’re the only ones who aren’t.’” It’s a confidence that hasn’t yet seemed crossed into arrogance, an accomplishment as impressive as any other in the high school arena, as the Rams embody their coach’s wish to “Win with class.”
That may be the most remarkable thing about the streak (which to reiterate, is still active until at least this evening’s match against Poly at Blair) is the effect it’s had on the Rams. Coaches and players alike have been excited about it as we talked to them game by game, humble yet still proud. Incredibly, it’s made them play better, instead of self-consciously. Maybe it’s just hard to feel pressure when it’s spread across that many backs, or maybe the focus on defense has simply helped to sharpen his team’s intensity, as Glasser hypothesizes.
One thing’s for sure, though—the streak will end, unless it somehow rolls on to 84 innings (which, come to think of it, isn’t particularly more preposterous than thinking it would get to 42). Reporters and fans want it to end on an earned run, a good piece of hitting, anything but an error, the byproduct of the league season’s first lack of concentration—but Glasser and his team know exactly how they want it to end. “In a 14-1 victory,” the coach said, laughing.