3/1:  The Varsity Giants blanked the Cardinal Newman Cardinals on the road 2-0 in Santa Rosa.  Many have debated if there really is a home field advantage in the sport of baseball.  While the outfield fence distances, foul ground and backstop vary from field to field, the bases and the distance from the pitcher’s mound to the plate are exactly the same no matter where the game is played.  There has never been a ’10th Man’ referencing the crowd in baseball while in football the ’12 Man’ is commonplace.

Cardinal Newman has a beautiful all-turf field with expansive outfield fences and partially sunken dugouts.  The field plays fast and Newman’s infielders played their positions deep, taking away hits from the Giants all day.  “We came out and hit the ball hard all over the yard all day.  I feel like they took away at least 6 hits from us today, the shortstop and third baseman both took away a couple each and their centerfielder took away at least 2.”, said Head Coach Mike Firenzi after the game.  Henry Zeisler, Eric Doctor, Parker Laret and Aubrey Sine were all victims of the thefts.

Firenzi exposed the deep infield in the top of the 2nd when after Sine and Doctor singled to start the inning, Zach Kopstien dropped a bunt putting both runners in scoring position.  Nicolas Belgum followed with a bunt single, scoring Sine from 3rd, putting the Giants up 1-0.

Zach Cohen pitched a gem, earning his first win of the season by pitching a complete-game shut out.  Cohen only gave up 3 hits and struck out 10 in his 7 innings of work.  “The Senior came out and did what we needed him to do.  He pitched with confidence, used his defense and stayed ahead in counts.”, said Firenzi.  As walks have haunted the Giants up to this point, Cohen didn’t walk a single batter.

The Giants scored an insurance run in the top of the 7th when Josh Cohen singled to center and stole 2nd.  Zeisler moved him to 3rd on a hard ground ball to the right side.  Parker Laret hustled out an infield hit, setting the table for Aubrey Sine.  Sine executed a textbook hit and run, hitting a hard grounder to the right side that would have been an inning-ending double-play.  But with the 2nd baseman covering the bag, Sine found the hole, scoring Cohen from 3rd.

The Giants tallied 9 hits, with Josh Cohen, Aubrey Sine and Nicolas Belgum with 2 hits each and Parker Laret, Eric Doctor and Nic Gillies adding to the total.  Sine and Belgum both had RBI’s on the day.

Redwood will host the Montgomery Vikings on Tuesday, March 8 at Moody Field.