The Overlake School’s baseball pitching ace Michael Curtis may not have had his best stuff on Tuesday afternoon when his Owls took on 1A Emerald City League rival Cedar Park Christian at Marymoor Park. But the loaded offense behind him packed plenty of punch as Overlake cruised past the Eagles, 11-2, the Owls’ sixth straight win.
The Eagles, who were shut out 8-0 the last time the two teams faced, got to Curtis early, scoring two runs on three hits in the second inning to take a 2-1 lead.
The Owls responded with a four-run third inning, highlighted by a two-run double by sophomore Josh Bensussen. Overlake then tallied five runs in the fifth to put the game away. Meanwhile, Curtis settled down and found his groove, scattering four hits and allowing no runs from the third inning onward to earn the complete-game win.
“He did a nice job of pitching in, and pitching to contact,” said Overlake head coach Mike Davidson of his 6-5, 230-pound flamethrower. “He gutted it out, and our bats just came alive.”
OWLS’ OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT
With the exception of Georgetown University signee Danny Poplawski’s home run, the Eagles’ starting pitcher, sophomore Riley O’Regan, had Owl hitters off-balance the first time through the lineup with an assortment of offspeed pitches.
But once Overlake batters figured out O’Regan, the floodgates opened.
After batting around in the third, the Owls turned the trick once again in the fourth, led off by a line-drive home run by leadoff hitter Josh Erickson during which he pulled up at second base, thinking he hit a double, until he turned around and saw his teammates waiting for him at home plate.
“It was our kind of game,” said Erickson, who finished the game 3 for 5 and a triple away from the cycle. “Yesterday, all day, we did hitting… but it was also our defense. Curtis, our pitcher, just dominated.”
The Owls also showed tremendous patience at the plate, drawing four walks during their 10-batter fourth inning, and Curtis helped his own cause with a long home run to right-center to lead off the sixth.
“It was really nice to see Josh Erickson get one out of here, Danny Poplawski’s hitting the ball real well, and Curtis got his (home run),” Davidson said. “Up and down that lineup we were getting hits. I’m real proud of the way we swung it.”
Bensussen, Curtis and Erickson each got three hits in the game, three players scored two runs each, including No. 2 hitting outfielder Tommy Castle, and every Owl starter in the lineup reached base.
A START FOR THE AGES
With the win, the Owls improved to 4-1 in league play and 9-1 overall, the latter mark setting a school record.
“This team’s feeding off every win,” said Curtis, who struck out five and improved to 3-0. “We’re 9-1, the best start in Overlake history, and we’re enjoying it. For us seniors, all six of us, it’s our last time, so we’re trying to make it the best.”
A large part of the Owls’ success has indeed been the explosive hitting and solid pitching of Curtis, who suffered a sprained ankle early in the season and is still recovering.
“I was really proud of Michael Curtis,” Davidson said. “He had a little injury he was fighting earlier this year and I think it was really important for him to get that complete game in the book.”
Davidson also noted that while the team’s start to the season is impressive, the team goal is to win the league championship, and even at 9-1, improvements are in order.
“I don’t think we ran the bases real well today, but overall I’m proud of the way some of our hitters have developed,” he said. “I’m very happy with our senior leadership.”
Now into the meat of the league season, the Owls hope to keep up their torrid pace next week as they take on 1A Emerald City stalwarts University Prep (2-1, 4-2) and Bellevue Christian (2-2, 8-4).
“We’re not really concerned about our record,” said Erickson, a junior. “We’re taking it one at a time, but we definitely have that confidence. It feels really good. … knowing this is the last year with our seniors, our core guys. We want to complete this season with them and come out really well.”
