Grant Gullstrand is keeping his mohawk.
The ROWVA High School sophomore and several of his buddies on the baseball team decided last week to shave all but a strip of hair going down the center of their domes as a sign of team unity for the Class 1A Oneida Regional.
“I might keep mine for the next sport I play,” Gullstrand said.
Until then, the mohawk is only a fashion statement.
The Tigers struggled to come through in the clutch and had key defensive miscues against Orion in the regional final May 23, as the Chargers ended their season with a 10-5 victory.
It was a rematch of a game from March in which the young Tigers - and Gullstrand - shut out Orion 3-0. But the barrel-chested sophomore righthander was off with his location and took his first loss of the season in the team’s final game.
“The strike zone was a little smaller, but I wasn’t hitting my spots,” said Gullstrand, who ended the season with a 5-1 record.
Gullstrand fought out of jams in each of the first three innings, but Orion broke through in the fourth.
Orion lit up ROWVA for four runs to break a 1-1 tie thanks to an error, two passed balls that allowed runners to advance, a walk and a screaming RBI double to left-center by Jake Johnson.
But ROWVA answered and made the game interesting for an inning.
The Tigers scored three runs on three hits in the fifth inning, including a two-run home run by Dylan Reid that sailed over the fence in dead center field, to trim the Orion lead to 5-3.
“The home run helped us out and gave us two extra runs on the board and got the guys back up,” the sophomore slugger Reid said of his eighth blast of the season.
But as soon as ROWVA swiped back momentum, rain showered down and the game was delayed for 12 minutes.
And ROWVA was never the same.
ROWVA junior reliever Grant Saline walked four batters in the bottom half of the inning and three later scored.
“We made it a two-run game and then the rain came, and they took it right back,” said Gullstrand, who gave up five earned runs while striking out two in four innings of a losing effort.
Orion plated two more runs in the sixth and a ROWVA rally in the seventh fell far short, with the Tigers plating one run to make it a 10-5 final.
ROWVA’s Ben Scott went 3-for-3 with a run scored and a walk. Trevor McCarthy finished 3-for-5 with an RBI also for ROWVA.
ROWVA drilled 13 hits but stranded 12 runners on base.
“We strung together some hits, but we just couldn’t get the big hit,” ROWVA coach John Clark said.
Orion (22-8) advanced to play Tremont, the winner of the Glasford Regional, Wednesday in the Bloomington Sectional.
After the loss, ROWVA players were already considering their prospects for next season. The Tigers graduate only one senior and return all of their starters off this season’s 21-8 team.
“From the starters in this game, we are not losing anybody. We should be one of the best teams again,” Gullstrand said.
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Grant Gullstrand is keeping his mohawk.
The ROWVA High School sophomore and several of his buddies on the baseball team decided last week to shave all but a strip of hair going down the center of their domes as a sign of team unity for the Class 1A Oneida Regional.
“I might keep mine for the next sport I play,” Gullstrand said.
Until then, the mohawk is only a fashion statement.
The Tigers struggled to come through in the clutch and had key defensive miscues against Orion in the regional final May 23, as the Chargers ended their season with a 10-5 victory.
It was a rematch of a game from March in which the young Tigers - and Gullstrand - shut out Orion 3-0. But the barrel-chested sophomore righthander was off with his location and took his first loss of the season in the team’s final game.
“The strike zone was a little smaller, but I wasn’t hitting my spots,” said Gullstrand, who ended the season with a 5-1 record.
Gullstrand fought out of jams in each of the first three innings, but Orion broke through in the fourth.
Orion lit up ROWVA for four runs to break a 1-1 tie thanks to an error, two passed balls that allowed runners to advance, a walk and a screaming RBI double to left-center by Jake Johnson.
But ROWVA answered and made the game interesting for an inning.
The Tigers scored three runs on three hits in the fifth inning, including a two-run home run by Dylan Reid that sailed over the fence in dead center field, to trim the Orion lead to 5-3.
“The home run helped us out and gave us two extra runs on the board and got the guys back up,” the sophomore slugger Reid said of his eighth blast of the season.
But as soon as ROWVA swiped back momentum, rain showered down and the game was delayed for 12 minutes.
And ROWVA was never the same.
ROWVA junior reliever Grant Saline walked four batters in the bottom half of the inning and three later scored.
“We made it a two-run game and then the rain came, and they took it right back,” said Gullstrand, who gave up five earned runs while striking out two in four innings of a losing effort.
Orion plated two more runs in the sixth and a ROWVA rally in the seventh fell far short, with the Tigers plating one run to make it a 10-5 final.
ROWVA’s Ben Scott went 3-for-3 with a run scored and a walk. Trevor McCarthy finished 3-for-5 with an RBI also for ROWVA.
ROWVA drilled 13 hits but stranded 12 runners on base.
“We strung together some hits, but we just couldn’t get the big hit,” ROWVA coach John Clark said.
Orion (22-8) advanced to play Tremont, the winner of the Glasford Regional, Wednesday in the Bloomington Sectional.
After the loss, ROWVA players were already considering their prospects for next season. The Tigers graduate only one senior and return all of their starters off this season’s 21-8 team.
“From the starters in this game, we are not losing anybody. We should be one of the best teams again,” Gullstrand said.
