Aug 3, 2024 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

Jordan DiValerio was prepared for a debate.

The Wild Things’ right-handed starting pitcher had just sailed through eight shutout innings Saturday night against Sussex County and he was ready to make a sales pitch to Wild Things manager Tom Vaeth for why he should be allowed to pitch the ninth inning and try for a complete game.

“I was ready to fight him tooth and nail to stay in and go for the CG,” DiValerio explained.

DiValerio had never pitched a nine-inning complete game, let alone one of the shutout variety. Not during his days in the Boston Red Sox farm system and not as a college pitcher at St. Joseph’s.

It turned out that there was nothing to debate. Washington pushed across an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and DiValerio returned to the mound in the ninth, retiring all three batters and finishing off a sensational 2-0 shutout.

“It was his game,” Vaeth explained. “As long as he felt good, he was going back out there. Maybe if this was game 35 of the season he wouldn’t have gone back out for the ninth, but this was game 70. He earned that right to go back out there.”

DiValerio (7-2) pitched a two-hitter, did not issue a walk and struck out five. He faced the minimum three batters in eight of the nine innings and faced only one batter over the minimum 27 for the game.

“The longest I had ever pitched was 8 2/3 innings in college and I needed 110 pitches to do that,” DiValerio said.

This time, he needed only 98 pitches to blank the Miners, who are the lowest-scoring team in the Frontier League. Sussex County had only two baserunners and neither of those advanced past first base.

DiValerio, a Pennsylvania native who played his high school ball at Berwick, looked like a much different pitcher than the one who threw at Wild Things Park six days earlier against New York. That’s when DiValerio pitched six innings and had the bizarre line of 11 hits allowed and only one run yielded.

“Of those 11 hits, maybe nine of them were weak contact through the infield. Sometimes you have good luck on grounders and sometimes you don’t. This time, those balls were finding fielders,” DiValerio said.

On this night, DiValerio had some good fortune and good defense behind him. Shortstop Carson Clowers robbed the Miners’ Tony Gomez of a hit in the seventh when he fielded a grounder behind second base, spun around and fired to first base for the out. Three times, the Miners flied out to the warning track.

Then, again, maybe DiValerio just had some extra motivation. His father, Fred, was at Wild Things Park for the first time to see his son pitch for Washington.

“I had my changeup working and the defense was working,” DiValerio said. “Carson really played well tonight.”

Sussex County didn’t have a baserunner until Gomez reached on an infield single with one out in the fourth. He was erased when Gabriel Maciel bounced into a double play. The only other Miners hit was a one-out single to left field by Gavin Stupienski in the fifth.

Washington gave DiValerio a 1-0 lead in the third. One batter after a 15-minute rain delay, Caleb McNeely tripled off the wall in right centerfield. He scored when Tommy Caufield hit a sacrifice fly.

The Wild Things protected the one-run lead until the Miners went to their bullpen. Miners starter Kellen Brothers (3-7) gave Sussex County a second consecutive quality start, allowing five hits and one run over six innings.

In the eighth, Andrew Czech, the hero of Washington’s 5-4 comeback win Friday, drew a two-out walk from reliever Angel Cespedes and stole second base. Jalen Miller singled Czech to third base and Brandon McIlwain hit an RBI single off sliding second baseman Evan Giordano.

That enabled DiValerio to return to the mound in the ninth with some margin for error, which wasn’t needed.

“I think his arm speed was something we haven’t seen all year,” Vaeth said. “When you can throw strike one, and not walk any batters, it makes your job easier.”