The Blizzard played another error free, solid baseball game in defeating the Lake County Warhawks 9-0 for their second win in GLBL Memorial Day pool play. Andrew Ross, having not thrown in eight days, was not as sharp as he had been most of the spring with the Chardon varsity but he competed hard for five innings and kept a very good hitting Warhawks team off the scoreboard. Nate Debick came on and threw strikes in the final two innings to seal the win. Chardon scored two runs in the first and five in the second - all with two outs - to take a comfortable lead which they refused to give back. Jake Stang had a big two out, two run single in the first and Phil Navatsyk followed with a two out, two run single in the second. Rodney Lewis singled and doubled. Nate Debick was on base three times via a single, a walk and a hit by pitch. Phil Navatsyk scored three runs and set the tempo for the game with a 12 pitch at bat to start the game which culminated in a walk and two stolen bases. Matt Snowberger also singled and doubled. This was a very well played game in every respect.

For the first time since 2002, the Blizzard lost its first game in pool play in the USSSA State Championship tournament. The boys from Chardon are now in danger of not making it out of pool play for the first time since that same year. Facing a highly touted Ohio Heat team from Cincinnati, Chardon managed only one hit in a 5-0 loss. Andrew Ross deserved a better fate as he competed hard and worked his way out of several jams in holding the Heat to three runs through five innings. However, the failure of the Blizzard to hit the ball hard resulted in absolutely no pressure being put on the Heat. Phil Navatsyk walked twice and had the only Blizzard hit but even that ball was not hit very hard. There's no doubt that Chardon is in the toughest pool in the tournament with the revamped Ohio Hornets and Solon Patriots waiting in the wings. We've got to win the next two and keep the scores low in order to have any hope of getting out of pool play. Today's game is against the Hornets at BGSU's varsity stadium. It should be fun.

The Blizzard kept their state championship hopes alive with a 5-2 win over a very good Ohio Hornets baseball team at beautiful Stellar Field in Bowling Green. Clayton Burke had another tremendous game as he changed speeds, made the Hornets put the ball in play and walked no one. Chardon fell behind 1-0 but finally scored their first runs of the tournament in the fourth inning when Jimmy Lyons walked to turn the lineup over, went to second on a balk, to third on a ground ball out and scored on a Matt Snowberger single. Matt then scored on a Nate Debick double and the whole complexion of the game changed. From that point on, it was the Blizzard exerting the pressure on offense and Clayton Burke making pitches with the Blizzard making all of the plays on defense. Nate Debick and Matt Snowberger continued to shine on the left side of the infield. Phil Navatsyk continued to play errorless ball at second base and Rodney Lewis made a great catch of a foul ball pop up at first base. Ross LaMarca played right field and made a couple of solid plays. Jimmy Lyons and Ryan Weed continued to do what they've done all season - catch everything in sight. Everyone contributed to this win as Chardon used pinch runners off the bench and every player seemed to be focused on every pitch. In the mean time, the Solon Patriots beat the Ohio Heat and now everyone in the pool is 1-1. Big game today against the Patriots.

The more you watch baseball, the more you come across a phrase used to explain certain happenings that are unique to the game. That phrase was heard repeatedly from umpires, other coaches watching the game and, finally, by coach Navatsyk himself in trying to explain a 9-1 run rule loss to the Solon Patriots which eliminated the Blizzard from the USSSA State Championship Tournament. "That's baseball" is all that you can sometimes say.

This game started off with two critical calls going against the Blizzard. Phil Navatsyk led off the game with a walk and was promptly picked off first on a play in which he appeared to get his hand back to the bag before the tag. Matt Snowberger and Nate Debick both followed with singles. Ross LaMarca then hit a 340 foot frozen rope right at the Patriots center fielder who was playing very, very deep. Jake Stang followed with a shot right at the third baseman and Chardon was retired in the first. In the bottom of the first, with two outs and nobody on, it appeared that Ryan Weed had struck out the Solon number three hitter on a great 3-2 curve ball. Alas, the umpire did not ring him up but instead gave him a base on balls. The next hitter was hit by an off speed pitch which he appeared to make no attempt to avoid and the following hitter blooped a single off his fists to get the Patriots on the board. The next hitter walked and the following hitter slammed a two strike curve ball down the right field line for a triple. All of a sudden the Patriots had four runs on two hits, one of which  was a fist shot. When Chardon loaded the bases with nobody out in the second and didn't score, you began to get a bad feeling about this game.

Three innings later after a number of hard hit balls right at the Patriots, the Blizzard found themselves on the short end of a 9-1 five inning run rule loss. The USSSA "eight run after five" mercy rule definitely should be changed and, in fact, it has been changed in a number of big national tournaments. At this age and with the amount of money that teams pay to participate in a tournament like this, to take away two at bats when the team only trails by eight makes no sense. Done venting - needless to say, it was a long drive home from Bowling Green.

The Chardon Blizzard's record fell to 14-7 on Wednesday night with a 6-1 loss to the Ohio Hornets. For the second straight game, Chardon failed to hit the ball hard and to put it in play consistently. The question now is whether the team is in a slump or is it just the old baseball adage that good pitching beats good hitting coming into play. Facing the 6'5" Mr. Holland, who pitched varsity for Cuyahoga Falls high school as a freshmen, the boys managed only two hits and struck out ten times. Holland (who's been shaving since he was 10, or so it seems) was sharper than we've ever seen him as he had his off speed pitch around the plate to go along with his normally very good fast ball. This is a bad combination if you're a hitter. He walked no one.

Lost in all of this non-hitting was the fact that "Shoeless" Jack LaMarca went five innings against the hard hitting Hornets and did a pretty good job throwing strikes, working ahead in the count and generally keeping the Blizzard within striking distance. It was a 1-1 game until the bottom of the fifth when the Hornets number three hitter hit a long two run double to right center. The way Mr. Holland was pitching, this was all that they needed.

Well, things won't get easier this weekend. The boys' four pool games in the Freedom Classic are against great 15 year old baseball teams. It's possible that we could play very good baseball and still lose all four games. We need to bring our A game in order to have a chance in any of these games. This is what it's all about!!

The Blizzard lost two out of three games to two of the top teams in the Diamond League but very easily could have won all three. Chardon held leads late in all three games. They lost one in the top of the seventh and the other loss came in the bottom of the sixth.

On Saturday, July 14, the Blizzard traveled to Kent State's beautiful Schoonover Stadium for a doubleheader against the MAF Gators, who, at the time, had the best record in the Diamond League. Clayton Burke was great for six innings giving up only one run on three hits and Chardon clung to a 3-1 lead going into the top of the seventh. MAF then erupted for eight runs, aided by a number a walks, a couple of wild pitches and a couple of bloop hits with three extra base bombs mixed in. Coach Navatsyk may have stuck with Clayton a little too long as his pitch count went over 100 but Coach wanted to give him the opportunity to finish his solid performance.

In the nightcap, Rodney Lewis pitched a complete game and the Blizzard put together a 6-2 win. In the bottom of the fifth, a big two out rbi single by John Colwill followed by an rbi double by Matt Snowberger turned a 3-1 lead into a 5-1 lead and gave Chardon a little breathing room. Rodney only gave up four hits to the strong MAF lineup. For the day, Phil Navatsyk had a single, double, two walks and two stolen bases in six plate appearances to trigger the Blizzard offense.

The next day, a Sunday afternoon drive to Woodridge High School ended in a 5-2 loss to the Ohio Hornets. The Blizzard only managed two hits (both by Ross LaMarca) off a very good left hander. Still, Andrew Ross pitched very well and Chardon was up 2-0 early on in this one and then still tied 2-2 until back to back two out triples in the bottom of the sixth sealed the win for the Hornets. 

These may have been the last games of the year for Chardon. Many teams have ended their seasons and others are going out of town. Coach Navatsyk has been trying to get a few more games scheduled but, thus far, has not been able to do so. As of now, the record stands at 16-13. The good news is that all of the losses have been to very good baseball teams and most of the losses have been close games which could have gone in the Blizzard's favor with a key base hit or a key defensive play. These boys have competed hard in every game. For a number of guys, this was their first year competing at this level. This is a very coachable group of young men who should all make significant contributions to their high school baseball teams over the next couple of years.