Riverside completes sweep of Eastside at Fluor Field

RHS Coach Michael Pettit made his team a promise that if they swept a series, he’d ‘hit the griddy.’ After Friday night’s 4-1 win over Eastside, Pettit held to his end of the deal.

Coach Michael Pettit made his Riverside baseball team a promise at the beginning of the season. For every series sweep the Warriors pull off, he’ll hit the “griddy” into the team huddle.

On Friday night, Pettit was dancing all over the Fluor Field grass.

“I saw the guys standing up in the huddle and laughing, and I remembered what I’d promised them,” said Pettit. “Those kids get a lot of enjoyment out of my lack of dancing skills.”

Riverside earned a 4-1 win over Eastside on Friday, completing a three-game sweep of the Eagles in the process.

In front of a wild crowd full of students and supporters from both schools, Riverside never trailed and rode stellar pitching to a crucial region victory.

Kai Tullos tossed five-and-a-third innings allowing just three hits and a run. He had three strikeouts and held the Eagles scoreless until the fifth inning. After Tullos exited the game, Pettit called on the Warriors’ closer, Carter Kruglewicz, to finish the job.

“It meant a lot that they trusted me to go out there and close up the game and get the win for us,” said Kruglewicz. “That was a big game for us, Eastside being a region team for us now and us trying to finish off the sweep.”

With the score 4-0 in favor of the Warriors, Eastside brought a runner home on a line drive single in the fifth inning to tighten the game slightly. The Eagles loaded the bases with two outs, but Kruglewicz was able to get out of the jam with help from his second baseman, James Kakaras.

Kakaras slid to scoop up a groundball, then from one knee he flipped the ball to shortstop Leo Lopez covering the bag to end the inning.

“I was just thinking about how much I really needed to get that last guy out,” said Kruglewicz, “so after, I went up to James and told him, ‘Hey, good play. Thanks for getting me out of that.’”

Kruglewicz shut the Eagles down in the seventh to seal the win. The Warriors flooded from the dugout to celebrate as soon as the last out was recorded. The win brought the Warriors to 8-5-1 on the season and 3-0 in region play.

“Anytime you can get a sweep, and you can build that confidence is huge,” said Pettit. “Once you see that if you put in the right work that good things will happen, that’s important. I think anytime you can get three in a row from your rival and win on a stage as big as the one we played Friday night, that gives you a ton of confidence and momentum moving forward.”

Riverside will look to keep the momentum going this week in a vital three-game set against regional foe Wade Hampton.