Even though both he and his coach felt as though his stuff was a bit off at points, Jordan Gentry didn’t need much thanks to his performance on the mound and the defense behind him. In fact, Ryan Leake’s RBI fielder’s choice in the bottom of the second would have been enough. William Monroe got a complete game shutout thanks to six innings from Gentry and one inning from Ryan Morris to take down Western Albemarle 5-0 in the Jefferson District semifinals on Tuesday.
“I heard this on TV one time from Nolan Ryan — a third of the time you’ve got your good stuff and nobody can hit, a third of the time you’re okay and a third of the time you’re bad,” Maynard said. “He was okay the first three innings, when he got loose I though he was great in his last three innings.”
He was at his best after his worse. Gentry gave up three straight singles with two outs, but didn’t allow Western to score as he drew a ground out immediately after. When Gentry came out after the sixth, he had retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced. He struck out five batters while giving up just and three walks.
“I hadn’t pitched in a while so it took a while to find my location,” Gentry said. “
Maynard went to Morris in the seventh to get one of his arms some innings after a significant break. After Western picked up a leadoff single from Scott Wakely, Morris retired the next three batters, once with an unassisted play from himself to preserve the combined complete game shutout.
Offensively, Monroe put its first run on the board in the second thanks to a pair of walks and wild fielders choice paired with an error that allowed Morris to score.
In the third the top of the Dragons order teed off on the ball. The inning started with 9-hitter Jacob Hirtz reached base on an error. Gentry then pulled a ball deep to left field to bring in Hirtz on an RBI triple.
“I felt the power,” Gentry said. “It was (Logan Forloines’) bat. Once I touched it I could hit.”
Fittingly enough, Forloines reclaimed his bat and matched Gentry with an RBI triple of his own — a shot to center field that rolled up to the trees in Porterfield Park.
“When I got up to the plate I told Jordan I had him,” Forloines said. “I knew I was going to see a fastball so I just sat on it.”
Seeing shots like that, particularly at Porterfield where the center field is seemingly never ending is something that amazingly has become common place for Maynard.
“Both of those balls were blasted,” Maynard said. “That’s probably the furthest ball I’ve seen Jordan Gentry hit. Logan hits those all the time, I’m used to seeing Logan’s.”
Just like with the pitching, Gentry did not argue otherwise.
“Yea, I’ve never hit a ball that hard,” Gentry said. “I’m a bunting kind of guy.”
Morris got in on the action immediately after Forloines as he picked up an RBI single to make it 4-0 for Monroe. An inning later error, walk, double steal and sacrifice fly made it 5-0 for the top seed in the JD tournament.
On defense, second basemen Lamar Nelson successfully fielded all five ground balls hit to him. He also had the inning ending putout in the fourth.
“He’s played great defense all year and is as quick as they come,” Maynard said. “He’s helped out pitchers out all year and is a big part of this team.”
While Western had a tough day at the plate, freshman Jack Maynard threw well to start the game giving up only two earned runs on four hits in three and a third innings of work. He then caught the rest of the game and threw out a pair of Monroe baserunners.
“The freshmen are exceeding our expectations of them,” said Western coach Skip Hudgins. “They’ve been the brightest spot for us this year.”
Caleb Dillard, Ryan McCrimmon and Alex DeJong had the three straight singles for Western in the fourth. Mitchell Parks had the only extra base hit for the Warriors with his double in the second. Wakely accounted for the fifth and final Warriors hit.
“We played poorly tonight, we played scared,”Hudgins said. “Of course this is also the stage that a lot of our kids have not played on yet, being so young.”
Western still has an opportunity to earn a Region II bid. The Warriors will play Fluvanna County on Thursday at 5 p.m. in Orange for the right to move on further in the playoffs. The two teams split their two regular season meetings.
Monroe already locked up its Region II berth with its regular season JD championship. The Dragons will face Monticello for the JD tournament title on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Monroe beat Monticello 10-0 and 13-0 in its two regular season meetings.
