Rock Bridge offense rolls in Bruins’ season opener

After the Rock Bridge baseball team’s spring break, Bruins coach Justin Towe thought it would take some time for his players to get adjusted at the plate.

It took just one batter to prove Towe wrong.

Behind the power of leadoff hitter Brandon Gerau’s two home runs, the Bruins rode their offense to an 11-2 win over host Mexico in their season opener.

After a majority of the team left Columbia during its spring break last week, Towe said he was pleasantly surprised with his team’s offensive output and that it is a good omen for the rest of the season.

“If we can hit like this more, we’ll be in good shape,” he said. “Throughout the spring, our pitching has been ahead of our hitting. I hadn’t seen a lot of these guys in the past week until they stepped on the bus tonight.”

Gerau wasn’t the only offense for the Bruins on Monday night. Shortstop Jordan Nietzel added a two-run home run and a double, and first baseman Erick Darkow had two RBIs.

Towe said this performance shows that the lineup has the potential to be solid from top to bottom.

“This is as good a lineup as we’ve had in a long time,” Towe said. “It’s all about our consistency in practice, and getting guys enough reps to feel comfortable.”

Gerau said he thinks the Bruins lineup will be able to do serious damage throughout the course of the season.

“We’re solid all throughout the lineup,” he said. “We have a solid one through about four or five. Even our six, seven, and eight guys have good power. It’s all about putting the ball in play and driving in runs.”

Both Towe and Gerau said that the Bruins will need a balance of offense and pitching throughout the course of the year in order to be successful. Towe said he thinks that getting off to a good start offensively helps the pitching settle in and be even more dominant than it could be otherwise.

“In high school, anytime you can score early, it puts a lot of pressure on the opposing team,” Towe said. “If you put enough pressure on the other team, they’ll crack and start pressing. It lets your pitchers relax knowing that they’ve got the lead, and they can just worry about getting the ball over.”

Towe’s theory appeared to hold true, as the Bruins’ starting pitcher, sophomore Jaide Rose, held the Bulldogs scoreless through three innings.

On the other end, having a strong offense means that the Bruins will face tough pitching, though facing the opponents’ best pitcher isn’t what Towe said worries him.

“What I worry about is that we’ll be playing kids with 15, 25, 30 swings in,” he said. “We’re about two weeks behind everybody else. Most teams have played five to seven games.”

If Towe gets offensive performances like Gerau’s more often, he’ll be able to worry much less. However, Gerau credits his two-home run performance to something less than hard work.

“I dunno, I kind of got lucky with this being my first game,” he said.

Regardless of how Gerau feels about his performance, his coach said that it was no shock.

“He had six home runs for us last year out of the leadoff position,” Towe said. “I’d be lying if I told you it was unexpected. He puts a strong swing on the ball.”

Even with the three home runs in the opener, the Bruins coach was quick to point out that he doesn’t mind playing small ball when the time is right.

“The kids know that we will lay down a bunt any time, any game,” Towe said. “The kids know, we work a lot on our small game, because we’re going to have a lot more games with no home runs than with them. Our number one priority in practice is to lay bunts down.”