Cruz control: Pitcher completes his job as W&J wins PAC opener
Pitcher completes his job as W&J wins PAC opener
Washington & Jefferson’s Brendan Cruz pitched a complete game, allowing only three hits and one run Wednesday afternoon, and his ERA actually went up, which speaks to the dominance of the Presidents’ starting pitcher this season.
That increase was to 0.93, up slightly from the 0.92 Cruz took into yesterday against Grove City in the first round of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference baseball tournament at Ross Memorial Park, a game W&J won, 5-1.
Cruz improved his record to 10-0, which is not bad for a guy who wasn’t a full-time pitcher until this season.
“In the offseason he wasn’t a pitcher-only until February,” W&J coach Jeff Mountain explained. “He was still playing third base and we finally said enough of that. He’s a competitor. He battles. He knows his strengths.”
Cruz won almost all of those battles against Grove City (19-17), the defending tournament champion. He consistently worked ahead in the count and needed only 104 pitches to throw the complete game. He induced 13 groundball outs.
“This is the best I’ve felt all season,” said Cruz, who played his high school ball at Chartiers Valley. “I was super pumped up and had all three of my pitches working.”
Cruz struck out eight and did not walk a batter. The only blemish on his pitching line was caused by Nick Remish. The Grove City third baseman turned on a high and inside 0-1 pitch in the third inning and pulled it to left field for a home run that tied the score at 1-1.
“It was a good pitch,” Cruz said. “He just hit it.”
Cruz responded to the home run in the best way possible. He struck out the next batter and retired 11 in a row before hitting David Chandler with, of course, an 0-1 pitch.
“I can’t always throw my fastball past guys, so that’s how I win counts, get ahead,” Cruz said. “I can throw all three of my pitches for strikes.”
Following Remish’s game-tying homer, W&J’s hitters responded with two runs in the bottom of the third. Singles to right field by Teddy Platt and Keegan Carr and a passed ball put two runners in scoring position. Luke Alvarez singled home Platt and Carr scored on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Miko, giving W&J a 3-1 lead.
That was all the support Cruz needed as he threw his second complete game, which saved W&J’s bullpen for the remainder of the tournament.
“There were games this year when we had to pull him kicking and screaming,” Mountain joked.
The lead grew to 4-1 in the fourth when Seth Rosenfeld, who was hit by a pitch, scored on an RBI groundout by Carr.
In the seventh, Miko hit his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot off Grove City starter Kenny Lavrich, who went seven innings and kept his team within striking distance.
The win sends W&J into the winners’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament against Bethany at 6 p.m. tonight. Grove City will play an elimination game against Westminster at 11 a.m. followed by Chatham against Allegheny at 2:30 p.m.
Bethany, 11-5
Gian DeGenova homered and drove in five runs, powering fourth-seeded Bethany to an 11-5 win over third-seeded Allegheny.
Bethany had 14 hits, including four by Marco Gonzalez.
The Bison (26-15) led 3-2 before scoring five times in the fifth inning.
Winning pitcher Payton Zupko allowed four runs (two earned) over six innings.
Chatham, 9-1
It took only one game for the tournament to get its first upset and it was a big one.
Carson Bennett fired a complete-game shutout as sixth-seeded Chatham (29-11) knocked off top-seeded Westminster 9-1 in the day’s opening game.
Maybe it shouldn’t be considered an upset because Chatham swept Westminster (28-11) in the regular season.
Bennett struck out six and walked three.
Westminster outhit Chatham 9-8 but the Titans left 11 runners on base. Cooper Baxter hit a three-run homer for Chatham and Caleb Jones had a three-run double.