Wolves Are Rolling Now

Posted Mar 11, 2008 by Adam Adkins

Updated Mar 11, 2008 at 12:51 PM

That three-game losing streak to start the season seems a distant memory for the Newsome baseball team.

The Wolves won their fifth straight Monday night, and the latest win was a big one as it came against Class 5A-District leader Brandon. Down a run in the bottom of the seventh, Mike Petrilli’s run-scoring single scored Dan Jackson with tying run, and the throw home got away from Brandon’s catcher to allow Kyle Parker to come around with the winner in a 4-3 win against the visiting Eagles.

“My teams have always been notoriously slow starters,” said first-year Newsome coach Zach Walker, who was at Tampa Bay Tech the past two seasons and has also been the head coach at Riverview. “I don’t know. I think it’s jut a matter of us playing well at right time. I don’t think we played overwhelming well [Monday], we just ended up with more runs.

“The kids for most part are playing with a little bit of confidence, a little more than they had early.”

The key for the Wolves has been their pitching. Senior lefty Kris Castellanos has been great since a somewhat rocky first outing against Armwood, and fellow senior lefty Kyle Parker has gotten back on track as well. In addition, the bullpen has been solid since a rough outing in a loss to Brandon to start the season, which obviously has helped the Wolves bounce back from a rough start to 2008.

But Walker didn’t have much time to celebrate the win. When he returned to Newsome’s field this morning, he noticed vandals had struck the Wolves’ home for the third time since the summer.

Walker said part of the field between the pitcher’s mound and home plate was dug out, the field cart was pushed into a nearby pond, and eight dozen brand new baseballs were stolen from the equipment room, along with various other items being thrown around the complex. It is the third time since Walker took over the program that vandals have struck the team, he said.

The coach added an additional $3,000 worth of damage was done to the school’s agriculture department during the latest incident, which occurred late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.

Walker asked that anyone with information regarding the incidents to please call athletic director Paul Lindstrom at (813) 740-4600. Walker added the matter was being looked into by the school’s resource officer.