Grosse Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointes

Sneak peek

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Sports Writer

North baseball suffers first loss against defending state champ

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — The Grosse Pointe North baseball team got a good look at exactly where it hopes to be at the end of the 2009 season when it hosted defending Division 1 state champion Birmingham Brother Rice for an April 13 doubleheader.

“The big thing about today was we had the jitters and were maybe a little nervous, but we got rid of it as the game went on,” said North senior pitcher Josh Cok after his team dropped the first game 6-4.

“Overall, we’ve got a ton of potential, and once we play to that, we’re going to be a real good team.”

There are plenty of similarities between the Warriors and Norsemen, and a possible rematch in Battle Creek is not out of the question.

Both squads return veteran rosters — Rice has nine seniors to North’s eight. Both teams also have college-bound left-handed aces anchoring their pitching rotation, with North’s Josh Cok heading to Central Michigan and Rice’s Matt Conway going to Wake Forest.

“That’s probably the best guy we’ve faced all year, no doubt about that,” Rice coach Bob Riker said of Cok, adding that when the weather warms up and he’s got some innings under his belt, he’s going to be very hard to hit.

Senior second baseman Brett Reardon, junior shortstop Nate Lewis and senior left fielder Mike Rahim will be key as the Norsemen, 4-1 overall at press time, set their sights on making it back to the Division 1 championship game, which they won in 2006.

But as the 6-4 loss showed, even a talented team needs to work for its goals.

“Brett Reardon is an excellent ballplayer,” North coach Frank Sumbera said. “Rahim, out in left field, is a good player, and Lewis, our shortstop, is going to be real good.

“We’ve got kids; we just need to improve. You’ve got to keep working hard all the time. You can’t relax. … A team can beat you without hitting the ball. You have to stay focused, work hard and keep improving your game.”

While similarities may abound between North and Rice, the differences that separated the Warriors and Norsemen stood out to Sumbera as he spoke in between games on a frigid afternoon.

“They really couldn’t hit us,” Sumbera said. “But if they got on base, they scored on an error, passed ball or stolen base. They ran on us a little too much, so I’m not pleased with that effort.

“Teams are going to try and bunt against (Cok) because they can’t hit him, so we have to be ready for it. They get one hit the whole game and beat us 6-4. That’s not Norsemen baseball.”

Amid those miscues, Sumbera also saw some highlights, including how they were one swing away from battling all the way back after falling behind 6-2.

Cok, a returning Macomb Area Conference White Division All-Conference honoree, leads the Norsemen. He said he hopes the early test against Rice serves to steady the team before it opens play in its new league, the MAC Red.

“Today, we wanted it, but we didn’t get it,” Cok said. “We’ve got to come out and get it the next game. That’s what baseball is. You’re not going to be perfect, so you have to get it the next day.”

North opens its league schedule against Grosse Pointe South at 4 p.m. April 22 at South.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1029.