The Indian River Indians varsity baseball team (8-5) won their fourth straight game in a row this week, with conference wins over Smyrna, Sussex Tech and Delmar in the chase for the Southern Division crown.
Coastal Point • RUSLANA LAMBERT
Luis Barrientos throws a pitch while a Sussex Tech player prepares to run the third.
“I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Indians head coach Howard Smack said. “We’re complimenting each other and, like I said earlier, we’re a young team and we’re starting to grow into ourselves. But we can’t live on our laurels.”
Six of their last seven games of the regular season are against conference opponents — including a nil-nil 11th-inning tie against Laurel that will be made up May 18. So a lot could happen in that time.
The Indians are 7-2 in the conference and have just moved past Seaford in the standings, following Seaford’s 6-5 loss to Sussex Central on May 1.
Right now, Smack likes the way his team is playing. They’re scoring runs, playing solid defense and pitching well without junior starter Trevor Abbott.
Indian River scored 10 or more runs in consecutive wins over Sussex Tech and Delmar (10-3 and 11-7 wins, respectively).
They’ve committed only three errors, and underclassmen pitchers Luis Barrientos and Cory Showalter pitched well into each of their respective games for their second wins of the season in only their second starts.
Barrientos and Showalter each pitched through five innings before making way for reliever Nick Kmetz, who was able to close out both games.
But if there was a place where they could improve, Smack said that his players need to be patient and takes what comes their way.
“We need to polish up on some things that we’re doing,” Smack said. “We’re getting into bad counts and swinging at bad pitches. Or we’re trying to hit the ball harder than what we need to.
“What they need to do is take what they give you and to keep it nice and mellow,” he said.
The Indians will host Lake Forest, Milford and Cape Henlopen next week before facing state championship contender Caravel Academy on May 14.