Norsemen Baseball

The playoff run is here for the Newark baseball squad. In their first round game, they had to take on the LaMoille Lions on Monday, May 18. It was a Norsemen winner, as the 3 seed beat the 6 seed, 17 to 1. Cam Myre got the win, pitching the first three innings and giving up 1 run. Conner Christian pitched the next two innings without allowing any runs. “It was a good game, a nice way to get the regionals going,” said Coach J.R. Veliz. With this win, they had to play the 2 seed, Putnam County, at Putnam County on Friday, May 22. The Norsemen unfortunately were knocked out of the Regional Tournament in that game, losing 11-2. The Norsemen finished the regular season with a 13-13 and 9-7 conference record. It wasn’t the easiest year for Newark, but they battled throughout the year. The team had two starting seniors and a foreign exchange student. Matt Eike and Zach Ward are both 4-year starters and brought great talent to this game. Matt Eike, the 3 hitter, Of/C was all conference and all academic. “He was one of the best players I’ve coached here,” said Coach Veliz. “He had so many tools to his game, a wonderful player.” He will being attending Augustana University. Zach Ward, the solid defender and hitter, saw his averages around 330 every year. Next year he will be going to Joliet Junior College. Fikri Rachman, the foreign exchange student from Indonesia, had a wonderful time here in America. Fikri said that when he leaves Newark, he is going to miss his time on the baseball team the most. By Ian Cerney and Steve McGrath