Donoho hits 2 homers, Jacksonville hits 3 and scores 20 in wind-blown, run-rule area victories on windy day
WEDNESDAY BASEBALL
Donoho 11, Jacksonville Christian 1
Jacksonville 20, White Plains 3
By Al Muskewitz
Peyton Webb made his way down to the field Wednesday afternoon just like it was any other game during the season. But this wasn’t going to be like any other game and as soon as he looked at the lineup card on the dugout wall he knew it.
For the first time as a regular on any team he’s ever played Webb was not in the starting lineup. When he realized it, he started doing the thing that got him in the situation in the first place.
He started thinking.
Overthinking, paralysis by analysis, whatever you want to call it, is what got him in this predicament. So, the sophomore just sat there through the first four innings of Donoho’s 11-1 area victory over JCA and admitted he “could have been in the game more.”
Falcons coach Steve Gendron called him off the bench to pinch hit in the fifth and suddenly his focus changed. Webb delivered his first high school home run, a three-run shot to left that carried in a stiff wind and put his team ahead 10-1.
“I went to see where I was batting and didn’t see my name and was like, Oh,” Webb said. “I started instantly thinking what could I have done to not start. A lot of things went through my head. I was a kind of mad, of course.”
Gendron figured the outfielder just needed a break. Through the Falcons’ first nine games Webb, a transfer from Oxford, was hitting just .217 and had only two hits in his last nine plate appearances.
“He thinks a lot, trying a little bit too hard,” Gendron said. “His first two swings he was trying to hit the ball in the road. I think his third he shortened up and finally realized you don’t have to try to hit it super hard every time and it’s going to go.”
All Webb could think of when his name was called was doing something to make an impact.
“I got excited,” he said. “I was like, Oh my God, I’ve got to hit a home run or something. I’ve gotta really show out. I want to prove I’m not still in a slump.
“(The homer) definitely caught me off guard. I thought it was going to be a high pop up at first. It really caught me off guard.”
Webb’s blast was one of two homers the Falcons hit after struggling their first time through against JCA starter Cam Moses. Nic Thompson lifted a low inside fastball into a wind that was blowing out to left with gusts of 30 mph and parked it to make it 6-1. It was part of a six-run inning that also included a two-run single by Tyler Allen.
“I really wasn’t thinking about hitting the home run,” Thompson said. “I think I was down 2-2 in the count and was thinking if he throws it down the middle I’m going to put it in the gap and I’m going to try to hit the left field wall. All of a sudden it just starting flying and it was gone.”
Slade Haney got the win. It took him an inning to settle in, but he worked the first five, giving up two hits, an unearned run in the first and striking out 12. He struck out the side in the second and the fifth.
“He was a little bit erratic today, but he’s a winner and found a way to keep us in the game,” Gendron said. “We were going to hit at some time.”
JCA 100 000 – 1 3 6
Donoho 100 631 – 11 12 1
WP: Slade Haney. LP: Cam Moses. 2B: Blake Sewell (D). HR: Nic Thompson (D), Peyton Webb (D).
Jacksonville 20, White Plains 3: The Golden Eagles teed off to win the area series, hitting three homers, pounding 21 hits and erupting for 11 runs in the third inning to break it open.
Drew Pridgen, Jim Ogle and Tito Canales all homered for Jacksonville in the opener. Pridgen went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, Ogle 4-for-5 with three RBIs and Canales 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Six Jacksonville batters had at least two hits.
None of the homers came in the Golden Eagles’ big inning. Pridgen hit a solo shot in the second to give Jacksonville a 3-1 lead. Canales and Ogle hit back-to-back jacks in the fourth.
In the big inning, Jacksonville sent 15 batters to the plate. The Golden Eagles parlayed eight hits, five of White Plains’ seven errors and a hit batsman into their 11 runs. The final out of the inning was made at the plate. Only six of Jacksonville’s runs in the game were earned.
Meanwhile, Nick Salmon held the Wildcats to five singles in the five-inning game and struck out three. He also had four hits at the plate.
Jacksonville 21(11) 33 – 20 21 1
White Plains 102 00 – 3 5 7
WP: Nick Salmon. LP: Brandon Hahm. 2B: Melo Canales (J), Jim Ogle (J), Taj Morris (J). 3B: Nick Salmon (J). HR: Drew Pridgen (J), Jim Ogle (J), Tito Canales (J). [*** read more]
