ATHENS - Beverly/Lowell players had barely rubbed the sleep from their eyes Monday morning when they faced the formidable task of trying to focus in on Michael Hamann's blazing fastball.
Talk about rude awakenings.
The lanky Hamann needed one inning to stretch out his arm muscles, but he set the tone for Sandusky's 11-0 domination by shutting down Post 389/750 over the first four innings during first-round action in the 2009 Ohio American Legion State Baseball Tournament.
Beverly/Lowell managed only two hits against the recent Danbury High School graduate with Mason Lang lining a single to right in the second inning and Evan Brockmeier cranking on a 1-2 offering from Hamann and depositing it into centerfield with two outs in the third.
When 6-foot-3 Hamann turned the ball over reliever Zac Esposito in the bottom of the fifth, Sandusky led 9-0. Things didn't get any better the rest of the way.
Esposito issued walks to Tyler Spence and Brockmeier in the sixth with Spence advancing to third base before the side was retired. That was Beverly/Lowell's lone threat in the morning matinee at Ralph T. Dalton Memorial Field.
Conversely, Sandusky's hitters were primed to whack away at the offerings from Beverly/Lowell starter Brandon Starr and reliever Chad Stengel. Starr was tagged for eight hits over three plus innings, including a pair of two-run singles from Sandusky catcher Joe Consolo in the No. 9 slot in the lineup.
"It's easy to hit well when the whole team team's hitting well," Consolo said. "It's contagious. Luckily, I came up with some pretty decent at-bats and was lucky enough to get it through."
Although Stengel was successful in tamping down a threat with minimal damage in the fourth inning, Sandusky extended its lead with two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh to put the 10-run mercy rule into effect.
Overall, Stengel gave up another nine hits behind Starr's eight.
"They're the defending state (American Legion) champions," Beverly/Lowell coach Todd Engle duly noted. "We talked some last night and I discussed it with some coaches who have played this group. They had 13 kids back from their state championship team, so they'll lose 13 this year, and I think, at times today, you seen the difference between 19-year-old kids while we're playing 15- and 16-year-old kids in some places."
Individually, Sandusky leftfielder Mike Shepherd went 4-for-5 with a RBI double and three runs scored. Xavier Turner and Spencer Bryant each collected three singles, while Matt Gundlach had a pair of hits and scored three times at the top of the order.
Engle figured his team was going to run into a buzz saw when he heard of Hamann's history with the Danbury Lakers and Sandusky Post 83. Hamann posted school records for most career wins (17), most career strikeouts (345) and lowest career earned run average (1.42) with the Lakers. He was a first-team All-Ohio selection and the MVP at the Mizuno Tournament.
He subsequently was selected in the 24th round of the 2009 amateur free agent draft by the Cleveland Indians, but instead accepted a baseball scholarship to the University of Toledo.
Hamann kept the ball down and made it a point to stay ahead in the count.
"We stress that," he said. "We don't want to fall behind right away and get our team in a hole."
Michael Bauman was the only Beverly/Lowell batter to work the count full against Hamann, but ended up being one of five strikeout victims.
"He's the real deal," Engle said of Hamann. "And when you run into a hot pitcher like that, it gives their team a lot of confidence and it puts a lot of pressure on us, defensively, because we know that to get a bunch of runs, it's probably not (to happen) against somebody like that."
Although Sandusky's middle infield turned a double play late in support of Esposito, Beverly/Lowell (17-19) managed to get only four balls out of the infield over the course of seven innings.
"I haven't seen how deep they are," Engle said. "And we didn't put a lot of pressure on them, defensively, to make a lot of plays, but with that being said, if they have any kind of depth, they're one of the teams of the teams to beat over here. Everyone says it's either them or Alliance or Pickerington, so it will be interesting."
Sandusky improved to 25-12 with the win.
- NEXT GAME: BEVERLY/LOWELL vs. Portsmouth, 9:30 a.m., today at Athens High School's Rannow Field.
Sandusky 11,
Beverly/Lowell 0
Sandusky 032 220 2 - 11-17-0
Beverly/Lowell 000 000 0 - 0-2-2
WP: Michael Hamann IP:4, H:2, R:0, ER:0, BB:0, SO:5.
Zac Esposito IP:3, H:0, R:0, ER:0, BB:0, SO:2, SO:0.
LP: Brandon Starr IP:3, H:8, R:7, ER:7, BB:2, SO:3.
Chad Stengel IP:4, H:9, R:4, ER:2, BB:0, SO:0.
Top hitters: Sandusky Commodore Denig Post 83 - Mike Shepherd 4-5, 2B, 3 runs, 2 RBI; Xavier Turner 3-5, 1 run; Spencer Bryant 3-5, 1 RBI; Joe Consolo 2-4, 4 RBI; Matt Gundlach 2-5, 2B, 3 runs; Mike Drake 1-2, 2 runs; Michael Hamann 1-3, 1 run, 1 RBI; Andrew Enderle 1-4, 1 run; Cody Koch 1 RBI; Beverly/Lowell Post 378/750 - Evan Brockmeier 1-2; Mason Lang 1-3.
