By SPENCER BATES
OLEAN — When a coach finds itself searching for things to improve upon, that’s a good thing.
Olean baseball head coach Les DeGolier is in that exact predicament at the moment.
Following a 9-0 win over Dunkirk on May 7, his Huskies find themselves in the midst of a six-game win streak and sitting with just one loss on the season — a defeat decided by one run.
The arms on the mound are delivering dominant performances and leaving opposing bats perplexed. Their own bats are red-hot, which has led to them winning their games by an average of 7.2 runs this season. And the defense is honed in behind the pitching staff, making plays as if there was no pressure whatsoever to do so.
Consistency is gold in the world of high school baseball and Les DeGolier has found a vein of just that.
“With our league, (consistency) is one of the things we talk about,” Les DeGolier said. “You can be really good for nine games. But if you have letdowns on your off days, that can knock you out of contention. So, we’ve talked about being consistent, but even when we don’t have our A-game, can we scratch out wins? I thought we had our A-game today. … We always look at what we can improve. We celebrate the things we did well, but it’s always, ‘Hey, what could we have done better?’ We’re always hungry to work on those little details and I think that’s what makes any good team.”
Highlighting the win over the Marauders was the performance of Joe Mest. The senior first baseman had just about as perfect of a day as one can ask for at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three runs and two RBI — one of his hits soaring past the right-center field fence for a two-run home run. He rounded out his game with a solid defensive effort as well, notably leaping to snag an errant throw to first and reaching to apply the tag in mid-air for an out.
“Joe’s swing, I told him before the game, is curtailed to lefties, and he saw two lefties today and had a day at the plate,” Les DeGolier said. “So, yeah, that’s a huge confidence boost for him. He has that kind of power. We’ve seen it in practice, and it’s good to see it in a game.”
Austin Miles also had a stellar day for the Huskies, going the distance for the first time since his return from injury. Through seven innings, Miles allowed just one hit and picked up 11 Ks — at one point striking out nine in a stretch of 12 batters.
This kind of performance is becoming the norm for Miles. In five of his six starts on the year, he has struck out at least eight and walked no more than three in any start. Les DeGolier praised Miles but also handed his catcher, Caine DeGolier, some credit. The two have been on the varsity team since they were freshmen and these high-strikeout games have become so common largely in part to the repertoire between the two.
“Those two are really close friends, and I think that pays dividends as a pitcher-catcher combo,” Les DeGolier said. “They’ve both grown up together. They have played with me since they were freshmen, so they’ve been doing this for four years, and I think they have developed this solid chemistry. They have each other’s back.”
Olean’s Austin Miles (1) delivers a pitch against Dunkirk. Miles recorded 11 strikeouts and allowed just one hit in a full-game performance. (Spencer Bates)
Miles and Ethan Woodring joined Mest in having multi-hit days, going 2-for-3 with a run and 2-for-3 with two RBI, respectively. Landon Johnson scored two runs in the win as well.
The offense is humming at an extremely high rate at the moment for Olean. According to Les DeGolier, much of that comes down to the emphasis the team has put on doing the little things correctly — something he hopes will come in handy down the stretch.
“We’re always working on our approach to be able to manufacture runs,” Les DeGolier said. “We have power, but what are the little things we can do? If I’m at bat, we might not have a base hit, but do we at least move the runner 90 feet and get him in scoring position? I think those are the areas we continue to look to improve, and in close games down the road that’s hopefully gonna pay dividends.”
The Huskies will look to complete the regular season sweep over the Marauders in Dunkirk on May 8 at 5 p.m.
AT OLEAN
Dunkirk 000 000 0 R:0 H:1 E:1
Olean 004 203 X R:9 H:9 E:1
Dunk: Cosme (5 SO, 2 BB), Biscaro (2 SO, 2 BB) and Ott
OL: Miles (11 SO, 1 BB) and DeGolier
