MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Lucas Shinn faced a daunting challenge Saturday as Morgantown’s starting pitcher against Jefferson.
Shinn was out to slow down the top-ranked team in Class AAAA, one that entered having won 14 of 15 games, while scoring at least four runs in all but one contest.
Mission accomplished and then some for the right-handed junior, who delivered in a big way by going the distance, scattering only three hits over a complete game shutout and keying the Mohigans to a 3-0 victory in a Mon County Classic matchup at Dale Miller Field.
“Each outing, he has been getting a little bit better and today he competed, threw the ball in the strike zone and limited walks,” Morgantown head coach Pat Sherald said. “He had two command of two pitches in the strike zone consistently and was OK doubling up on the breaking ball, which is high-level high school pitching. Really proud of our team’s effort against one of the best-coached teams in the state and a team that’s ranked No. 1 for a reason.”
One of three hits for JHS (14-2) came on Serf Guerra’s first-inning double, which Shinn overcame by inducing a groundout from Jett Gross to end the threat.
Cougars’ starting pitcher Andrew Engle struck out the side when No. 6 Morgantown (9-6) came to bat for the first time, and the right-hander went on to strikeout the first five Mohigans he faced.
But as Shinn retired the side in order in both the second and third innings, the Mohigans kept the contest scoreless, before making the most of small ball execution to gain the lead in the home half of the third.
That inning began with Eli Boggs drawing a leadoff walk, and he advanced to third on Kai Henkins’ sacrifice bunt that resulted in an error and runners at the corners.
A squeeze bunt from Ryan Nipper followed and led to Boggs scoring the game’s first run, while Henkins moved to second and Nipper reached as the throw came home on the play.
Two more sacrifice bunts followed. The first came from Mason Bowers, who moved both runners into scoring position, and the other from Weston Mazey, who brought in Henkins for a 2-0 MHS lead.
“We had kind of a five-headed monster come through with guys that can all handle the bat and run a little bit,” Sherald said. “So it setup pretty well for us to play a little bit of small ball in that situation and put pressure on them.”
Guerra made it two hits in as many at bats with a fourth-inning single, but never made it beyond second base as Shinn induced consecutive ground ball outs to keep his team’s two-run lead intact.
While Morgantown stranded a pair in the fifth, Shinn didn’t allow a baserunner in both the fifth and sixth innings.
When he returned to try and finish off the complete game, the Mohigans had built the lead to three runs courtesy of a Boggs double that brought home Jackson Bredeson, who had doubled two at bats earlier.
An error combined with Liam Healey’s single allowed the Cougars to bring the tying run to the plate twice in the seventh, but Shinn hung tough and recorded his fourth and final strikeout facing Liam Sager, before getting Brady Roberts to hit a fly ball to left for the final out.
“His maturity and toughness in that situation was great,” Sherald said. “We challenged our guys all year to show high-level maturity and toughness and he did that.”
Shinn did not issue a walk in the stellar start.
“He didn’t walk anybody and that made us have to string hits together,” Jefferson head coach John Lowery said. “We just didn’t do that today. Both pitchers threw well.
“It’s tough when you don’t draw walks and then we hit a lot of balls in the air. We try to work on hitting it on the ground, and on a line, and it’s something we need to work on. Morgantown has a good club. Credit to them. They got a couple bunts down that we didn’t handle well and that hurt us.”
Engle struck out eight, walked four and allowed only two hits over six innings.