Western Reserve stayed the course for winning record

VICKERY — At times, the experience didn't feel real. As Josh Good stood in the third base coach's box on May 18, he watched the Western Reserve baseball team rally from a 3-2 deficit against Margaretta. The head coach of the Roughriders may have needed a little convincing just four weeks earlier. The 'Riders were 1-7 after eight games but used a midseason surge to finish with just the second winning season in the previous 10 years at 14-10. That included the game against the SBC Bay Division co-champion Polar Bears (19-5). Western not only beat the Bears in one of their better wins of the season. It also got to play it at Bob Gray's "Field of Dreams" in Vickery, located between Castalia and Clyde. The old-school field near County Road 249 in Sandusky County has a meticulous grass field that features stone fences and an old-time scoreboard as a backdrop similar to a cornfield in Iowa. The Field of Dreams was built in 1993 and has played host to many travel ball and adult league games through the years. Gray owns and operates Homestead Hardware right next to the field. "Playing there was an incredible experience," Gray said. "You know you are at a unique location when you have a bunch of high school players just looking around at the entire setting, soaking it all in while you approach and walk across the diamond." The matchup was originally scheduled for April 4 in Collins. It was postponed a second time, then Margaretta head coach Ray Neill reached out to Good to see if the team was interested in playing the game in Vickery. "I honestly had only heard of the field and had not experienced it yet," Good said. "So we knew we wanted to play a very good team leading up to the tournament and thought a different setting would be a great experience for us." Despite the tough start to a season with high expectations, Good said his team still had a great attitude. That may have been because Western had lost four of those seven games by one run. The Roughriders were close. "There was certainly a reality check though," Good said after the 'Riders lost 1-0 at Monroeville despite outhitting the Eagles, 4-2. "When we had another loss by one run, our message was very clear. We had worked very hard in the offseason and early in the season, only to not see the success we wanted. "I told our guys it was a real gut-check time for them," he added. "Do we have guys on our team that can deliver when it really counts? As in deliver the big hit, play, or pitch when it really matters. Big-time players make big plays when the game is on the line." Between the frustration of the weather and army losses, Good credited his players and coaches for their approach to the season. "It was challenging to have a competitive practice day in and day out with our limited indoor space to do everything we need to do," he said. "It's hard to have a strong mindset when every week, family schedules change for our players and coaches. "But I really felt our players and coaching staff did a very good job of persevering through those challenging moments throughout the season." Despite those challenges, Good said his team kept the same approach in practices but tested the players with a more competitive mindset in every drill. "We were envisioning every at-bat with a runner in scoring position and two outs, and we started at-bats with two strikes," he said. "Pitchers were throwing bullpens with runners in scoring position, and our fielders had to make a play to end an inning with runners in scoring positions. "Having five one-run losses in a row was exhausting. But those also really tested us in who we wanted to be in the end." A year ago, Western was 7-6 after 13 games. But from there, the Roughriders lost seven of their last 10 games. This season, Western (7-7 FC) won 13 out of 15 games with just a pair of losses to Division VII No. 18-ranked Plymouth (15-9, 10-4) in that stretch. The Roughriders closed the year with another tough loss in a walk-off defeat at Bucyrus Wynford, 2-1, in a Div. VI sectional title game on May 24. "We all know baseball is the game that completely tests your mental toughness, and I have had teams in the past where we would have folded," Good said. "This team just does everything you expect of them, from mental toughness, accountability, energy in the dugout, competitive practices, hard work in the weight room throughout the season, and their ability to lead and expect more from their teammates. "We challenge our players to be willing to call each other out in a healthy way, to expect more from them. Those same players can receive that same message back themselves. We have a big group of players that have accepted that challenge, and I really believe that mental toughness approach with all our hard work is why we are where we are in the last month of the season." The 14 wins this season equaled the win total of the past two seasons. Dating back to 2016, Western's lone winning season prior to this spring was a 13-11 mark in 2023. In that stretch, the 'Riders average win total was 9-15 overall and 5-9 in the FC. In the season-ending loss to Wynford, the Roughriders had four seniors in the lineup: Caleb Pausch, Blake Welch, Tyler Wood, and Hayden Dobias. That means Western will have back the majority of its regular lineup for 2027. "I would say our success this year was the entire team trying to reach our goals," Good said. "We fell short of some of those goals, but our team did not hold their heads down but picked them up to finish very strong. "Our pitchers have bought in and worked really hard on mechanics to throw strikes and control the bases, and the entire lineup has been very good with delivering the big hit, taking advantage of the extra 90 feet, and executing our bunting game no matter the player. "They did a great job down the stretch of going out and making the big-time play when it's needed."