Whatever Deer Park High School’s record is for lowest ERA in a district baseball race might be, look for it to get challenged this spring.
That’s because if the team’s opening two District 22-6A contests are any indication, the maroon and gold is going to be one stingy Class 6A club.
Pitcher Jackson Cleveland went the distance on the mound, finishing with a four-hit shutout as Deer Park blanked Pasadena Memorial 2-0 at Jim Kethan Field Wednesday night.
Cleveland, who didn’t walk a batter, was aided by some outstanding defense from the left side of the infield, making his night that much easier as Deer Park raised its early district mark to 2-0. Coupled with Blake Michalsky’s six-inning shutout of Sam Rayburn Tuesday night, Deer Park’s ERA is 0.00 through 13 innings.
“I think sometimes Jackson gets into trouble when he thinks too much instead of letting his talent take over. Tonight, he had all his pitches working. His fastball was working both sides of the plate. He threw good change-ups to the lefties. His cutter was the best it’s worked all year. That was his out pitch. Sometimes it’s his curve, sometimes it’s his cutter and tonight it was his cutter,” pitching coach Donnie Elliott said.
When working, the cutter or the cut fastball tails away from the hitter as it reaches the plate, giving it more movement than a typical fastball. Although slower in velocity, the cut fastball makes up for it with that movement.
“We do a little five-minute bullpen session the day before he pitches and I had him throw two or three cutters. It was coming out of his hand good so I was confident tonight that it was going to be working for him,” Elliott said.
Memorial, which was 4-for-25 for a .177 team batting average, never got a runner to third base and in terms of runners in scoring position, the Mavs were just 0-for-3. Rey Izaguirre, Blake Juarez and Kaden Fernandez were the three stranded Mavericks, all coming in the second through fourth innings.
Another quality of the cutter is the fact that even if a hitter does make contact, the ball isn’t hit all that hard. It’s not certain if they were cut fastballs they hit, but in the sixth inning, back-to-back Memorial hitters put slow rollers up the third-base line that Michalsky, playing third base, made two on-target throws to first base.
Deer Park head coach Chris Rupp called them “great plays” and said the Deer would have been in trouble if they weren’t made.
“I usually let my defense do all the work. I know I’m not going to strike out a lot of guys so I’m just happy to let my defense back me up every play,” said Cleveland, who retired the last 11 batters. “My cutter was the key. They were rolling over on it and missing and helping me to get ahead in the count.”
“The later he got, I think he got in a little rhythm. He started hitting with his breaking stuff. He had a little velocity on his fastball at the end,” Rupp said.
Shortstop Wyatt Woodall had his second fine defensive outing in as many nights. One night after cleanly fielding six ground balls, he cleanly fielded four more. One of his throws to first did hit the ground, but a nice scoop by the first baseman led to the out.
Eric Rodriguez was the starting and losing pitcher. Rodriguez was hurt by the third inning when Deer Park scored both of its runs. Outside of that inning, Rodriguez pitched well enough to win. And of those two runs, one was unearned.
Run-scoring RBI singles by four-hole hitter Tyler Thompson and Tanner Phillips in the fifth slot came up with RBI singles that plated leadoff hitter Wyatt Woodall and Jake Haring.
Deer Park was 8-for-26 at the plate for a .308 batting average. With runners in scoring position, the Deer were 4-of-13. But in the third inning, they were a much heftier 3-of-6.
“Their kid threw a really good ballgame. He’s pretty good. We beat a buzz saw tonight. He’s going to win some games. There’s no doubt about it,” Rupp said.
“He’s our go-to guy. He was throwing his curveball for strikes. He’s tough to hit. Whenever you come to Deer Park, you’ve got to play good baseball,” Memorial head coach Terry Garza said.
ravery@hcnonline.com
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