Sports

Boys Baseball Falls to Deerfield But Comes Back to Dominate Cushing

Ariel Miranda ’24, positioned in second base for defense, swings at the ball.

Saturday 4/13 – Andover: 2, Deerfield: 6
Wednesday 4/17 – Andover: 6, Cushing: 1

Although Boys Baseball (1-3) lost to Deerfield on Saturday, the team finished the week with a strong win against Cushing. Andover looks to continue its momentum into the game against Worcester this weekend.

According to Mikah Krystofolski ’27, during the practices leading up to Saturday’s game against Deerfield, the team mainly focused on situational hitting and execution. During the game itself, however, he noted that team’s energy was low.

“We worked on hitting, situational hitting. So, runners in scoring position, and executing hits… In the first couple innings, it was pretty dead. But as the game went on, we got more lively. But at that point, it was too late. I think we need to work on being involved in the game for the whole game,” said Mikah Krystofolski.

As the game went on, pitcher Marek Krystofolski ’25 worked hard to shut out Deerfield, only letting up a few hits. This sparked enthusiasm in the team and kept up the team’s energy in the dugout.

“Through the first five innings, Marek really shut him down. I think he only gave up one or two hits. That kept the energy high in the dugout,” said Mikah Krystofolski.

According to Mikah Krystofolski, some notable players included Jace Roossien ’24 who made significant contributions to the game by hitting two ground-rule doubles as well as Cam Willems ’24 overall hits.

“Jace had two ground rule doubles and Cam has been doing really well for us. He’s one of our better hitters right now.” said Mikah Krystofolski.

Reflecting on Wednesday’s game against Cushing, Roossien shared he was proud of how the team played, especially regarding the hitters’ success and the multiple pitchers.

“Today’s game was kind of great all-around pitching. They did a great job. Our hitters started to string together some hits. We had good at-bats all the way around, and some great defense. I gotta say that Isaac Lamson [’24] made a couple of great plays down at third base. We had a big inning, it was the fifth inning where we put up five runs and that was everybody coming together and just having a lot of really good hits. Good at-bats put the game out of hand. Then Nate Rosner ’24 came in and pitched three great relief innings. And then Mikah Krystofolski came in for the last two innings and closed out the game. He pitched great,” said Roossien.

For upcoming practices, Roosien imagines that the team will work on hitting and how to approach different pitches to hopefully get some more runs in the upcoming game.

“We are going to work on our approach to the plate. Line drive, contact, working up the middle. Taking away that outside corner and, and driving into the other field and just working on seeing high-level off-speed pitches as well. Like curveballs and change-ups and stuff like that,” Roossien said.

Baseball will play Worcester at home on Saturday.