Dominant pitching leads Justin-Siena to shutout victory over Middletown in home-opener
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Dominant pitching can go a long way. When a pitcher or two takeovers, it makes things a lot easier when innings come and go without any issues.
Thanks to stellar pitching, the Justin-Siena baseball team was able to beat Middletown 7-0 in their home-opener on Tuesday afternoon.
Starting the game was senior right-handed pitcher David Elias. He worked five innings, where he didn’t allow a run to score. He also struck out three and gave up just four hits on 67 pitches. He also picked up his second win of the season.
“(I was) just making them put the ball in play,” Elias said of his marvelous start. “(it’s) kind of my 1 v 1 mentality of not trying to do too much.”
Justin-Siena manager Jeremy Tayson said Elias wasn’t phased by anything in the game.
“David’s a machine. I don’t know if David’s human,” Tayson pointed out. “Nothing rattles that guy, and I can’t say enough about him. I love that kid – he does not get rattled and he knows what he has. He knows how to make it work and nothing gets to him.”
Fellow senior right-handed hurler Nick Andrews was dominant in relief. In two innings of work, he struck out five of the six batters he faced. That also included the perfect seventh inning, where he struck out the side on just nine pitches.
“What a nice luxury to have on the back end of that game in Mr. Andrews,” Tayson continued. “That’s who Nick is and he’s so competitive and also poised like David. I think they kind of feed off of each other a little bit. So it was great to see them really set the tone because I think that puts our defensive ease, it puts our offensive ease that ‘hey, we got this you guys just give us enough to work with and this is a done deal.”
The Braves (3-0) broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when they scored three times. After walking the at-bat prior, Everet Johnson stole second and moved up to third on an errant throw to second on a backpick that went into center field. He would then score on a double by Madden Edwards. Edwards scored on a single by Matt Chadsey. Chadsey later scored on an infield single by Jake Fletcher.
“I wouldn’t really call it an adjustment we were just – we just kind of stayed to our game plan and just hunted his fastball,” Tayson explained. “He was spotting that real well on the outer half and we were just kind of sitting on it and letting everything else go and it just found holes. We’re a very confident team offensively right now, so we’re not too worried if they don’t fall.’”
Justin-Siena put the game away two innings later when they took advantage of a lot of miscues by the Mustangs (0-1). It all started on Fletcher walk, who was pinch-run for by Emrys Davies. Davies advanced to third on a walk by Dalen Tinsley and Johnson getting hit by a pitch before scoring on a wild pitch. Tinsley also came in on a wild pitch. Johnson scored on an error. After coming in as a pinch-runner for Edwards, Sam Denkin scored on a double by Gianni Natuzzi.
Leading the Braves at the plate was Tinsley (2-for-3, walk, strikeout, run, stolen base), Edwards (2-for-4 2B, 2 RBI, run, Natuzzi (2-for-4 2B, 2 runs, RBI), Chadsey (2-for-4 RBI, run, stolen base), Fletcher (1-for-2 walk, RBI), Timmy Walsh (2-for-4), and Bryce Laukert (1-for-2).
The win continues a trend over the last five seasons where they play well in their first game in between the lines on their home field. In the last five seasons, they have a record of 4-1 in their first game at home. This was the first game that wasn’t a one-run game.
Justin-Siena will be back in action on Saturday morning at 11 am when they head to Vallejo for a matchup with St.Patrick-St.Vincent.