Throwing hard has never been a problem for Jake Hendrix, his arm strength has always made coaches want to put him on the mound. Throwing hard for strikes was the problem, but after an offseason of hard work that included sessions with former Orange County star pitcher and Kansas City Royal Chris Haney, it’s looking like that might be in the past.
“It’s been a while since I’ve pitched and I’m used to walking a lot more batters,” Hendrix said. “I’ve been really limited in my pitching because I wasn’t throwing strikes. Now that I’m more accurate, things are changing. Experience is really helping a lot.”
It showed, and his team responded to it as well. Behind an errorless defense, seven shutout innings from Hendrix, Timmy Aker and Joe Burrus and plenty of offense, Albemarle cruised to a 9-0 win over Monticello.
“If you throw strikes and have no errors, you win a lot of ball games,” said Albemarle coach Jimmy Bibb. “The kids have been working so hard in practice. Jake had a big game, so I know he’s happy. It’s nice to come out like that for a senior.”
The Patriots got out in front of the Mustangs early before Hendrix took to the mound in the bottom of the first. To kick the game off, both Burrus and Aker scored after reaching base by virtue of a walk and getting hit by a pitch. Albemarle kept the ball on the ground to bring in both runners.
Hendrix struck out the first three batters he face on the night, and finished with five strike outs in his three innings of work. He was equally effective at the plate, going 2 for 4 including a single and solo-home run in the third inning to make it 4-0.
“Fortunately I got a fastball inside and that was the pitch I was looking for which always makes it easier,” Hendrix said. “I got a good hit on it and it kind of just got carried out of here.”
The Patriots continued to nickel and dime for runs behind Joey Varaksa, Scott Hoffman and Benny Baranik, making it 9-0 in the fifth. And as strong as the outing was, with the amount of runners the Patriots put on base, there is still room to grow with just two starters returning from last season (Hendrix, Varaksa).
“We probably could have gotten a few more runs, we were a bit anxious at the plate,” Bibb said. “A couple of times we had people on second and third with one out, we need to get those runners in. Later on (in the year) we’re going to need those runs to win.”
Aker was 2 for 4 with two runs scored. Hendrix and Lee Carneal also scored twice. Baranik was 1 for 2 with a run scored.
Monticello managed only three hits in the contest and struggled with errors. Kyle Jacobson, Jacob Livingood, and Conner Lilley accounted for the three singles. First year coach Peter O’Malley is hoping that his team shakes off the tough loss and quickly moves on.
“We’ve only got two seniors and we’ve got four freshmen on the roster so we really trying to show these kids how the game is played at the varisty level,” O’Malley said. “Shaking off this loss is all you can do. We’ve had a couple of good scrimmages against STAB and Miller. We’re preaching that this is a simple game if you can throw strikes and be in the right place. Things take care of themselves then. It’s when you get behind and walk batters and make errors, all of the sudden you’re in trouble.”
Monticello (0-1) heads to Culpeper on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Albemarle (1-0) travels to Charlottesville Thursday at 5 p.m. and then goes to Western Albemarle on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
