William Monroe’s baseball team has been all about regularity the last two years, and one of the lynchpins is that Jordan Gentry throws on Tuesday. But Dragons coach Mike Maynard decided to switch it up for his ace this week, giving him three days extra rest so that he could pitch on senior night against Madison County. The senior made the most of his Friday night primetime start, striking out 14 of the 26 batters he faced for a complete game shutout in a 6-0 win.
“Jordan wanted to pitch against Madison so it’s the first time in two years I’ve moved him from being my Tuesday night pitcher,” Maynard said. “We’ve been playing pretty solid defense and Jordan works so fast, it keeps everyone in rhythm. Colin Tucker threw really well for Madison and kept us off balance. We got a few runs on him early but he kept working inside and out. Getting to him early gave us a little confidence, but I thought he battled all game too.”
Gentry was on point and had his defense being the same behind him. Only three Madison batters reached scoring position, and only one of them with less than two outs. Gentry gave up just three hits and two walks.
“Lamar Nelson and Austin Batten played great in the infield,” Gentry said. “But I give most of the credit here to Logan Forloines. I think he knows my arm better than I do. He calls the pitches and I shake him off but he gives me the same sign and I end up with a strikeout. My fastball worked better than anything tonight. They were kind of getting on my curveball, it worked at the end, but to start, that’s what they were able to hit. So it was about the fastball tonight.”
Conversely, the Dragons offense got off to a solid start to make it easy for its starter. Gentry got on board on an error and was driven in right away by Ryan Leake on a single. In the next at-bat, Logan Forloines made it 3-0 on a 2-run shot.
While that was all that Monroe needed, the team tagged on two more runs in the fifth starting with a leadoff double from Gentry and another RBI single from Leake. Two batters later Austin Batten brought in Leake with an RBI double.
Madison got another quality start from senior Tucker. One week removed from throwing ten innings and surrendering just one run and three hits to Strasburg, Tucker didn’t offer Monroe’s offense much outside of the two doubles and homerun. He finished with four strikeouts.
“The last two weeks he’s been throwing especially well,” said Mountaineers coach David Loundrey. “Tonight he threw well, but it was rough because it was a slow start to the game. But I really think we’re getting there and playing some good baseball. The good thing is that I think we’re getting there at the right time with the playoffs coming.”
Travis Warren, Collin Shifflett and Tyler Colvin accounted for the three Madison hits. Leake was the lone player on the night with multiple hits for either team.
Madison (6-12, 5-7) has a makeup game with Manassas Park on the road at 7 p.m.
Monroe (18-1, 13-0 Bull Run) finishes up its regular season on Tuesday also at Massasas Park at 7 p.m.
