Calvary’s Dietz deals Berkeley Prep its first loss

By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

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TAMPA – Calvary Christian junior Hunter Dietz said over the summer he tinkered with his grip on his slider and on a whim mixed it in during an early-season game.

“Funny story: this summer I was working on pitches and I changed up my grip a little bit and I threw it as hard as I could and it moved a lot,” he said. “I worked on it in the bullpen and it kept moving pretty well, so I mixed it in during a game and it just stuck with me. It was just a joke that I first started throwing it.”

Friday night, Berkeley Prep found little humor in the wipeout pitch as Dietz mixed it in successfully throughout his complete-game, 11-strikeout performance as the Warriors took down the previously-unbeaten Buccaneers, 4-1 in the first of two games between the 3A-District 6 rivals.

Dietz, a University of South Florida commit, held Berkeley Prep (21-1, 4-1 in 3A-6) to one hit – a single into center from Drew Canody in the third inning.

Countering the junior southpaw was Buccaneers senior righty and Ole Miss signee JT Quinn, who struck out four in the loss, allowed just four singles but struggled with command a bit, issuing five walks and throwing three wild pitches.

Calvary Christian (21-1, 4-0 in 3A-6) took the early lead in the second as Dillon Costello singled on an infield single to short, moved to second on a Matt Rose sacrifice, third on a groundout and scored on the first of Quinn’s wild pitches. Rose stretched the Warriors lead in the fourth, drawing a walk, stealing second and eventually scoring the deciding run on a second wild pitch.

The only damage to Dietz’s line score came in the home-fourth, and was a bit self-inflicted as Berkeley Prep took back-to-back walks, moved two into scoring position on a wild pitch, and cut the lead in half when Owen McElfatrick did his job with an RBI groundball to second. But that was all the generosity Dietz would offer, stranding a runner at third with a strikeout.

Costello added his second hit of the game – an RBI line drive into center to plate Nick Monile in the sixth, and the Warriors salted away the win with a seventh-inning run on a passed ball.

“Everybody wants to hit the fastball and JT is a great pitcher who throws the ball really hard, and we know he has that nasty curveball,” Costello said. “I saw two curveballs, and then he gave me one right down the middle and I timed it up and sent it up the middle.”

With a three-run cushion, Dietz calmly returned to the mound for his final inning, sandwiching his 11th strikeout between to flyball outs.

“Our team tries to go one game at a time,” Dietz said, “but everyone was talking about this game all week. Yesterday, everyone was super amped up, we came into the game amped up, and I was thinking about it all day. But this team is really great, when the game starts, at letting all that go and getting it done on the field.”

Defensively there were a number of highlights, including two from Canody in centerfield for the Bucs – one on a sliding catch in the first and the second on a dart to catcher Gunnett Carlson to catch a runner at the plate in the sixth. JT Quinn picked off a runner at first and fielded his position well. Calvary Christian catcher Andrew Tess caught a runner stealing second, and Monile made a sliding catch of his own in centerfield.

After the game, Berkeley Prep head coach Richie Warren was disappointed with the result and chalked it up to some previously unseen miscues from a team that has had very few of those this year.

“It was just a little uncharacteristic as far as our entire effort tonight,” he said. “With mistakes we just haven’t been making, and that is the reason we were 21-0 coming into the game. But seven walks against a good club, you have to control that kind of stuff.”

Warren admitted that his team’s first loss stung, but the pressure behind any successful run is something that he hopes prepared the Bucs to quickly get over this game and move forward, especially with a quick turnaround with the Warriors, as the two face off again Saturday night from Clearwater.

“As a competitor you put up your best effort every time you go out there,” Warren said. “Tonight, maybe we beat ourselves a little bit, but our guys view pressure as a privilege … if there wasn’t pressure to perform then it means you weren’t destined to do something great.”

Costello said the Warriors won’t spend too much time celebrating Friday’s win with the quick turnaround against the Buccaneers on Saturday.

“This was two, top 3A teams, a big district win, but after every game it’s about going to the next one,” Costello said. “The biggest game is the next one, we are going to have a short memory, come out tomorrow and try and do the same thing.”

To view our complete photo gallery from this story, click here.

Calvary Christian 4
Berkeley Prep 1

CC 010|101|1 – |4|4|0
BP 000|100|0 – |1|1|0
W – Dietz (6-0); L – Quinn (7-1)
Records – CC (21-1, 4-0 in 3A-6); BP (21-1, 4-1 in 3A-6).