'Getting that groove at the right time': Jayce Unverferth, Zach Williams rally for Aurora

AURORA — Sometimes baseball is as simple as getting one's groove back.

Over the course of a long season with limited at-bats or opportunities to pitch, nearly everyone loses momentum at some point. The game, then, is about working through tough times and making little fixes to get back on top.

Jayce Unverferth and Zach Williams showed that ability in spades Tuesday to lift Aurora to a 9-4 win over Barberton.

Unverferth was 2 for his last 15 entering the Greenmen's home tilt against the Magics. When Barberton took a 1-0 lead, it was Unverferth who tied the score immediately, blasting the first pitch of the bottom of the second inning off the green scoreboard perched just atop the left-field fence.

"Just different feel today," Unverferth said. "I changed up the swing recently to a more relaxed stance and just didn't miss the fastball today."

No ball was hit harder and no ball made a more fearsome sound off the bat than Unverferth's solo homer.

The leading competition was likely his two-run scorching double to left that made an equally impressive sound off the bat.

"It feels amazing, man," Unverferth said. "It's a huge boost in the confidence, and [I'm] just going up there ready to swing and ready to go."

How did Unverferth emerge from that slump, in which he went hitless in six of seven games, to make such a massive impression?

"The swing-and-miss rate went through the roof and I was, like, 'Well, this isn't working, got to change it up overall,'" Unverferth said. "Just a lot of time on the tee. When we're taking BP before the games and we're inside because it's raining or the weather, it's really taking advantage of the tee work."

"His two-strike approach has been much better since we've talked with him," Greenmen coach Trent Dalton added. "He's really stepped it up this year. Key guy for us last year and again he's a key guy this year, and obviously we go through our slumps [when] we're not getting as many hits as we'd like to, but he stayed the course. He's kept working, he's always been a worker, and obviously it was good to see him going and hitting the ball well today."

Williams had to re-find his groove midgame.

The Magics pounced on the southpaw early, including three hard-hit balls to left field as they took a 3-1 lead in the third.

Those three runs were the most Williams had given up in a game since Aurora's spring break trip to Florida to start the season.

"Nothing was really feeling like I could get over without them hitting a line drive," Williams said. "So I was just mixing it up more going into the later half of the game and going with my third pitch, which is my curveball, more and more, so I think that was a big part of it."

Another key alteration was locating his change-up better. Over the final innings, it tailed away beautifully, dropping low and outside to right-handed batters who found themselves flailing for a pitch that ended up well off the plate.

"In the first couple innings, I was leaving it up, so I just had to figure out how to get it down, just come more over top on it, to get the dive that I needed, instead of leaving it up," Williams said. "Once I figured that out, it was pretty good."

More than pretty good, really, as Williams finished the afternoon with three scoreless innings while Aurora built a lasting lead.

"He always stays nice and composed, never gets mad," Dalton said. "If he's mad, I couldn't tell you when. The kid's always smiling. He's always just, 'Next pitch.' 'I missed this one. Next pitch. Walk this guy. Next pitch. All right, guy hits a bomb. Cool, I'm going with a fastball with you next time you're up.'"

Williams has now gone at least five innings in all five of his starts for the Greenmen. He has yet to allow more than two earned runs in a start. He has been exactly the ace Aurora needed after the season-ending injury sustained by Rhode Island commit Nathan Fletcher.

The resilience shown by Unverferth and Williams Tuesday is emblematic of an Aurora team that started 1-4 (and 5-8) but now sits above .500.

"We're definitely hitting a roll at the right time for sure," Unverferth said. "A lot of it is just a great group of guys all around. Everybody loves each other. Everybody's willing to do whatever it takes to get the win, so we're getting that groove at the right time. Just take it in the playoffs and we'll be all right."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Jayce Unverferth, Zach Williams, Aurora baseball 'getting that groove'