MONTGOMERY: Confidence grows with wins

Friel back to rally young Cougars baseball team

By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
   Peter Mueller can look at two plays and see the difference between this year’s Montgomery High baseball team and the one that struggled to a 9-16 record a year ago.
   ”We were playing Union and we were down by a run in the last inning,” recalled Mueller, the Cougars’ head coach. “Mike Friel was up and he hit a shot down the third base line. The third baseman made a diving stop, got up and got the out and we lost the game.
   ”The other day against Lawrence we were in the same situation. Mike Friel is up again. But this time he gets a base hit up the middle and we win the game. Things are going our way this year.”
   The Cougars’ come-from-behind 10-9 win over Lawrence last Thursday evened their record at 3-3. It’s a far better start then last year, when they opened the season with eight straight losses.
   ”What I like about this group is that there is no quit in them,” said Mueller, whose team is scheduled to play at Bridgewater today. “The three games we have won this year we’ve been down 3-0, 4-0 and 6-0 and we’ve come back in each of them. It does not faze these guys at all to be down. It wasn’t like that last year.
   ”But this team has a different dynamic this year. The kids battle every game and they’ve battled back from being down a few times already.”
   Montgomery trailed 6-0 against Lawrence, rallied to eventually tie the game, 8-8, before Lawrence scored a run in the top of the seventh. But Friel came through with the big hit in the bottom of the inning to deliver a win.
   ”We knew once we tied it up it was our game for the taking,” said Friel, who had three hits in the game and is batting .450 through the first six games. “Even after they went ahead we knew we were going to come back and win the game. We’re playing with a lot more confidence this year. It’s nice that we have been able to win a couple games like that.
   ”Last year we started 0-8 and when that happens it is tough to stay up as a team. This year we came out and got off to a better start. We have a goal of making the state tournament and we want to do well in the (Somerset) county tournament. We feel like we can do that. We’re a determined team this year and we don’t give up.”
   This Montgomery team returns just three starters from last year, when a good second half saw the team rebound to win nine of its final 16 games. But it is still a team with a lot to learn.
   ”We’re very young,” Mueller said. “These kids are very coachable. They listen and they work so hard. They work a lot harder than most of the groups we have had. You can really see they want to do well.
   ”We have spread the wealth a little. That is a credit to the players. Any one of them can step up at any time and make a big play or get a big hit.”
   Friel delivered the winning hit against Lawrence, but Taylor Mulligan, DJ Ruhlman and Brandon Cheslock each drove in two runs in the win. Jason Kalvin picked up his second win of the season with 3Ò innings of solid relief.
   ”We have a young team with a lot of new players on the roster,” Friel said. “The new players have adjusted well and I think we’re going to keep getting better. This is about where we thought we should be right now. So we’re meeting our goals early in the season.
   ”Everyone has been playing pretty well so far. The new guys had a little bit of an adjustment but we’ve carried ourselves pretty well so far.”
   Even the returning players are being asked to do more. As a returning starter, Friel has taken on more of a leadership role.
   ”It’s a new role for me,” he said. “Last year I was a young guy playing with a lot of seniors. This year I knew I was one of three returning starters. It’s been a little different. I have tried to be more vocal. And you can’t show much fear. You have to keep the other guys encouraged.”
   And coming back to win the way the Cougars did against Lawrence, as well as in their two earlier wins, helps build confidence.
   ”It’s been nice the last two games to be on the other side of it,” Mueller said. “We’ve talked to the kids a lot about how we have to learn how to win and get to the finish line. I think we all learned a lot from last year. I think we were able to take some of the things we learned last year from the losses and tweak things this year.
   ”I felt bad for the seniors last year. But I think what we went through last year set us up for this year. We still have a way to go, but we’re making progress.”