ROSS TWP. — Brad Voegele knew the type of talent the Ross High School baseball team had before taking over the helm during the offseason. He knew it was going to be a squad full of playmakers.
The first-year Rams coach is now seeing it in full swing.
A mixture of small ball, sound pitching and timely hitting has Ross sitting at 8-1 and enjoying an eight-game winning streak.
“That’s our record?” Voegele questioned. “I didn’t even realize that.”
It’s the best start for Ross since the 2019 season, when it surged to a 14-0 record. But numbers haven’t been on Voegele’s mind as of late. His Rams are playing well at the moment, and that’s all he’s concerned about.
“We’re just playing team baseball,” the coach said.
After watching Ross pull away for a 9-4 victory over visiting Landmark Christian on Tuesday, Voegele predicts the best is yet to come from the youthful Rams.
“I told everybody at the beginning of the year, if we’re going to do the little things — wait — when we do the little things, and once it clicks, it’s really going to pay off.”
And it hasn’t taken long.
The Rams’ season-opening 5-0 loss at LaSalle — which included five unearned runs — was a tough one to take home, Voegele said. But then again, he even confirmed that it could have been the ignitor they needed.
“I’ll be honest, that game told us that we had to start figuring out how to win when some parts of the game aren’t going well,” Voegele said. “They’re doing that now.”
A stellar week
What got the Rams firing on all cylinders, according to Voegele, was last week’s 5-0 performance — which consisted of big-time wins over Hamilton and Indian Hill and a hitting onslaught in three victories against Mount Healthy.
Voegele said he kept watching the replay from junior Austin Farris’s game-winning hit that lifted the Rams past the visiting Big Blue 3-2 this past Saturday.
“It helped out with their confidence,” Voegele said. “Over and over, I watched them dogpile on top of Farris who got the base hit. I couldn’t stop watching it. It reminded me that this is why we do this.
“It was a lot of fun. It was a great win.”
The day before that, Ross outscored Mount Healthy 36-1 in a doubleheader sweep, and the Rams also beat the Owls 15-1 last Monday.
“All of last week, we just did what we were supposed to do,” Voegele said.
In between the Mount Healthy wins stood a 4-3 triumph at Indian Hill.
“We had to win that one late, too,” Voegele said. “I’ve felt that winning close games like that is going to continue to propel us. That’s what we keep saying. That’s Ross baseball. That’s how we’re going to play.
“We don’t have a lot of game experience or varsity experience,” Voegele added. “That’s why we still think that we haven’t seen our potential from that standpoint.”
Stepping it up
Leading the way for the Rams is sophomore shortstop Ben Voegele, who is 12-for-23 at the plate with 12 runs and 15 stolen bases.
“We execute the little things in practice, and it shows in the game,” Ben Voegele said. “For the most part, we play really hard.”
Working his way into a starting role at first base is senior Ty Graff, who has gone 9-for-13 in just six games.
“We’re a great team. We all communicate really well together,” Graff said. “We all get together well. We all play as a whole — a good team — and that helps us be where we are.
“I’m just enjoying the game as much as I can with this being the last year — my senior year,” Graff added. “The hard work has been paying off in practice. It’s paying off at the plate now.”
Senior Dylan Ayers and juniors Ian Busch and Austin Parker are also contributing on the offensive end for the Rams.
“We’ve got great hitters,” Brad Voegele said. “If we’re not swinging the bat well, we’re going to do something to move them around and find a way to score. I think everybody who has watched us play has seen that so far. That’s the key to our success.”
Six different Ross pitchers have notched wins on the mound in a senior-heavy rotation that consists of Aiden Vanderbilt, Mitch Naehring, Jeff Kist, Nathan Asher-Palazzolo and Graff.
“The kids are really buying into it with what we’re preaching,” Brad Voegele said. “Getting off to a fast start with these guys helps. It’s telling them that what we’re preaching is working.
“I feel like we’re in a good spot. This thing is far from over yet. We’re 3-0 in the (Southwest Ohio Conference). I like where we are right now. We’re fundamentally sound, and we’re going to do the right things. We’re going to hang our hat on that.”
