He needed a break in the figurative sense.
Because during the last 13 months, Kentlake designated hitter Miles Nagel certainly has endured more than his share of literal bad breaks.
There was a torn labrum during last season’s tryouts, which cost Nagel the entire spring baseball season.
Then, upon returning to the game last summer, Kentlake’s big-hitting junior took a ball off the cheek bone, breaking his orbital and thus costing Nagel more playing time.
Finally healthy for Kentlake’s season opener against Kennedy on March 8, Nagel showed what he could do — blasting a 370-foot, two-run homer in his lone at-bat in an 11-0 victory.
But in the process, Nagel re-injured the same left shoulder that cost him his entire sophomore season.
To Kentridge’s chagrin, the big guy with the sweet right-handed swing returned last Monday. And he showed once again what he’s capable of, going 3 for 4 with a key fifth-inning grand slam, helping the sixth-ranked Falcons rip Kentridge in a South Puget Sound League North Division game at Russell Road Park, 14-4.
“It’s exciting,” said Nagel, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound designated hitter/pitcher who, through Wednesday’s win over Kentwood, is 7 for 8 this season with two home runs and six RBIs. “To come back and hit another (home run), it’s exciting. It kind of put me on my feet. It didn’t hurt my shoulder at all.”
Nagel’s grand slam, a high line drive, cleared the 365 marker in dead center field and climbed half way up a tree well beyond the fence. It turned a tentative 7-4 lead into a comfortable 11-4 advantage and helped the Falcons (7-0 in league, 11-1 overall) win their fifth straight game. The Falcons tacked on two more wins on consecutive days, beating Federal Way on Tuesday (6-5) and Kentwood on Wednesday (6-1).
But the performance of the week belonged to Nagel, who, along with the big grand slam, also went the distance on the mound in the win over Kentwood.
“I felt like I hit it pretty good,” Nagel said of his grand slam. “When I put it out there, I thought I might get a double out of it. I didn’t know it was going to go over, it just carried.”
It carried and, in so doing, sunk any hopes Kentridge (2-4, 2-7) had of knocking off the upstart Falcons.
The game proved to be a microcosm of Kentridge’s season. The Chargers came into the spring considered the team to beat in the SPSL North, but have struggled mightily with their defense.
Against Kentlake, the Chargers committed six errors. During Kentlake’s game-changing six-run fifth-inning, the Chargers committed three errors alone, two of which came with two outs. None of Kentlake’s six runs in the inning were earned.
“You can’t give a team more than three outs an inning. In two innings that they scored besides the last inning, we gave them five outs,” said Kentridge coach John Flanigan, clearly frustrated. “You can’t give good teams five or six outs, or they’re going to score. It’s plain and simple.”
Defense has been Kentridge’s Achilles heal all season. Kentridge continued to sputter Tuesday, falling to Kentwood, 4-0. It was the Chargers fourth loss in their lass five games. They’ve committed 16 errors during that span.
“We haven’t played defense at all. All year,” Flanigan said.
And while things couldn’t have gone much worse for the Chargers, everything – aside from Nagel’s injury struggles – has come up roses for the Falcons.
Kentlake has gotten something from virtually everyone on its roster. The Falcons mustered 14 hits against Kentridge and got steady pitching from sophomore Doug Christie, who proved to be effectively wild. But wildly effective at the same time.
Christie walked four, scattered four hits, hit one batter and struck out five in six innings of work. Three of his four walks and the one hit batter came during Kentridge’s three-run second inning.
“I don’t know what was happening. I think I was trying to be too specific with my pitches,” said Christie, a 15-year-old right-hander. “Throughout the game, it probably wasn’t my best stuff.”
Despite the one rough inning, Kentlake coach Jason Evans remained confident in his young right-hander.
“He usually doesn’t have that one bad inning,” Evans said. “I knew he could work through it and get out of it.”
Kentlake didn’t waste any time jumping on Kentridge starter Danny White, plating four first-inning runs on three hits, a Charger error and a hit batter. Kentlake’s Marcus Evans and Lewis Larson both collected RBI singles in the first. Evans added another RBI single in the second, scoring Andy Enders and pushing Kentlake’s lead to 5-0. Enders opened the inning with an opposite-field single to right.
Despite managing just one hit in the second inning — a Matt Theisen single to right field — the Chargers cut the deficit to 5-3, thanks to three walks and a hit batter. Kentridge’s Stetson Olsen got the Chargers within 5-4, belting a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the fourth.
It was as close as Kentridge would get as Christie retired nine of the next 11 Chargers batters before giving way to the left-handed Enders, who closed things out with a scoreless seventh inning.
While the pitching was solid throughout, the key proved to be Nagel’s big at-bat, Evans said.
“To have him back where we can have him on the mound or hitting every day, that’s huge,” Evans said. “Everybody definitely likes having him back in the lineup, too.”
REASON TO SMILE
