BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — The way Jefferson’s Kamien Gonzalez pitched in relief Saturday, he didn’t need an abundance of run support.
Still, Gonzalez helped his own cause with a two-run home run in the seventh inning, adding insurance for the Cougars in a 6-1 victory over Bridgeport as part of the McDonald’s Classic.
Gonzalez pitched four scoreless innings after taking over for starter Daquon Shipe, who exited with Jefferson leading 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth.
“He does command the strike zone well and we’ve gone to him late in games when it’s been tight and today was a primary example of what he’s capable of doing,” said Jefferson coach John Lowery, who notched his 1,328th career win. “Going into today’s game, he hadn’t had a walk and he walked a couple today. That’s the longest he was going and you could see that he was starting to run out of gas at the end.
“But he’s such a competitor. He tries so hard and he’s a great kid. I’m happy for him that he was able to help us not only on the mound, but with his bat as well.”
When Gonzalez moved from shortstop to the mound, Bridgeport (15-3) had a pair of runners on with no outs. But Gonzalez retired the next three batters, inducing an inning-ending fly out to center off the bat of leadoff hitter Cam Cole with both runners in scoring position.
The Cougars (15-1) had a chance to add to their lead in the fifth after loading the bases with one out. But Shipe hit one back to Bridgeport pitcher Christopher Harbert, who threw home for the second out, before catcher JD Love fired to first trying to complete the double play. The throw to first hit off Shipe, who was ruled to be out of the baseline for what resulted in an inning-ending double play.
Frank Why’s leadoff walk in the home half of the fifth put the tying run on for the Tribe. Ryan Goff followed with a double to right field, but Why was thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning.
“You make your own breaks in baseball,” BHS coach Robert Shields said. “We just didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we had in certain situtations for us to gain an advantage on them.”
Still leading 2-1 in the seventh, JHS gave itself plenty of cushion with a four-run frame.
Regan Allinger’s sharp single up the middle scored Connor Bailey to make it 3-1, before Zac Rose’s single plated Kellen Kinsler for the Cougars’ fourth run.
Gonzalez followed with a long ball to left that gave Jefferson a 6-1 advantage.
“We finally got a big hit in the top of the seventh with not only the home run, but also the ball that Zac Rose hit into left-center,” Lowery said. “Overall, this was a good ball game for us.”
BHS took its only lead in the second inning when Aiden Paulsen brought Drew Hogue home with a two-out infield single.
That 1-0 advantage held up until the fourth, when Jefferson scored a pair of runs to lead for good. Zac Rose drew a leadoff walk and Gonzalez followed with a single. After Shipe’s sacrifice bunt advanced both runners and a Sam Wabnitz infield single scored Rose to tie it at 1. Pinch-hitter Griffin Horowicz delivered a two-out single to left that scored Gonzalez for the go-ahead run.
Bridgeport squandered an opportunity to take a first-inning lead when Love bounced into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded. Like the double play Shipe hit into in the fifth inning, it came down to the umpire’s decision. Love hit a bouncer to third baseman Cullen Horowicz, who threw home to Allinger for an out. Before Allinger could throw to first in an effort to complete the double play, he was wiped out by Why, with interference being called.
“We had the break with the play at the plate, but of course they had the break on the play at first,” Lowery said. “There were a lot of interesting calls in the game and the umpires were right on top of them and decisive in making the calls and that’s what you want to see out of umpires.”
Gonzalez was 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs. He also surrendered just one hit, while striking out three and walking three.
Wabnitz had three of the 10 JHS hits.
Anthony Dixon got the start for Bridgeport and pitched one-plus inning. He issued consecutive walks to start the second and was removed with an injury for Harbert, who scattered nine hits and five runs on 5 2/3 innings.
Goff had two of Bridgeport’s six hits.
“When you’re not doing things the right way, taking the ball the right way and trying to pull outside pitches,” Shields said, “that doesn’t bode well to get a lot of hits.”