Plymouth baseball team hits its stride at Saturday's Niles Invitational

April 18, 2010, 9:30 p.m.

   Plymouth's baseball team got into the swing of things in a big way at Saturday's Niles Invitational.

  The Wildcats' bats came alive as they added an impressive piece of hardware to the school's trophy case after outscoring Brandywine, 13-10, and White Pigeon, 12-2, to earn the tournament's top honors.

  "I am very proud of the boys," said Plymouth coach Bryan Boyd. "For them to step up this weekend and play the way they did, shows the potential we have. We have a long way to go, but this is definitely a big step."

  It didn't take long for the Wildcats to make an impact against Brandywine as they scored three first-inning runs on Rich Guglielmi's two-run home run, which scored Ben Wohl who had singled, and Phil Emminger's sacrifice fly, which plated Mike Nadratowski, who had doubled off the wall.

  The Wildcats eventually built a 13-5 cushion before Brandywine stormed back with an errors-aided five-spot in the fifth inning to pull to within 13-10.

  Nadratowski earned the win, allowing just one earned run in four innings. Andy Dodge pitched the fifth and sixth innings, and Jackson Burdette earned the save with a one-two-three seventh.

  Nadratowski paced the winners' hitting attack with four hits (two singles and two doubles). He also scored a pair of runs and registered two RBI.

  Also swinging hot bats were Guglielmi (single, home run, reached base in all five plate appearances), Wohl (two hits, two runs, two RBI), Tyler Goble (two doubles, two runs) and Kevin Lozier, who ripped a two-run double.

  "Mike was solid on the mound again and outstanding at the plate," said Boyd. "Gugs is really seeing the ball well right now. Offensively, we were outstanding against Brandywine, which has a very good program. Defensively, we still have some work to do."

  In the title game, the Wildcats dominated White Pigeon, which defeated state power Niles in the other semifinal contest.

  Like in game one, the Wildcats pounced early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first and never trailing thereafter.

  Ryan Nick was in a zone on the mound, yielding just one unearned run to record his first win of the season.

  Offensively, Plymouth was sparked by Guglielmi (two hits, two runs), Nadratowski (two hits), Matt Priebe (two hits) and Goble, who scored two runs.

  "The wind was difficult to deal with in game two," said Boyd. "Matt Priebe hit a cannon shot that had at least 50 feet knocked off of it."

  "Ryan Nick pitched extremely well, especially considering the strong wind blowing in his face."

  The Wildcats improved their record to 3-4.