MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When Bridgeport’s Jacob Stavrakis is able to throw more than one pitch for strikes with consistency, it elevates his status as a pitcher that much more.
Stavrakis showed that again Wednesday at Mylan Park in a matchup between the Class AAA No. 3 Indians and Class AAAA No. 5 Morgantown.
After his first-inning error led to the Mohigans scoring a run, Stavrakis threw six shutout frames the rest of the way, while the Indians broke a tie with a three-run fourth on their way to a 4-1 victory.
“You make mistakes and it’s a game of failure, but you have to forget about it and keep pushing forward,” Stavrakis said. “It can still be on your mind, but you have to let it go and focus on the next pitch.”
The result gives Bridgeport (19-8) a regular season split with the Mohigans (20-8) after Morgantown won the first meeting 7-1 at BHS.
“I’m pleased. This is a step in the right direction,” veteran BHS head coach Robert Shields said.
Stavrakis hit Weston Mazey with a pitch to start his outing, and then fielded a sacrifice bunt off the bat of Mason Bowers, while electing to throw to second in an effort to retire Mazey as the lead runner. Instead, the throw sailed into center field, with a bobble in the outfield allowing Mazey to come all the way around for the game’s first run.
But after keeping Bowers in scoring position to end the first and then escaping a two on, two-out situation in the second, Bridgeport’s right-handed senior settled in and then some on the mound.
The Indians first got even at 1 in the top of the third courtesy of an Owen Sondericker single to center that brought in Michael Romano, although Mohigans’ starting pitcher Maddox Boggs got Sam Goodwin to hit a ground ball back to the mound with the bases loaded for the final out of the third.
Boggs wasn’t as fortunate in the fourth and issued a leadoff walk to Stavrakis, before pinch-hitter Jaxson McNally laid down a perfectly-placed bunt single that created a situation with runners at the corners.
Having entered for Stavrakis, Aidan Dunn scored the go-ahead run after taking off from third while Sam Romano was in a rundown between first and second base, with the latter ultimately reaching second after the Mohigans’ unsuccessfully attempted to throw Dunn out at the plate.
After Boggs recorded the first two outs of the fourth, he surrendered a two-run double off the bat of Kasen Baun that created a three-run deficit for MHS.
“I want us to keep grinding offensively and we have to do just that,” Shields said.
Stavrakis retired the side in order in the fourth and escaped trouble in the fifth to ensure his team continued to play from in front.
Sammy Watson accounted for a leadoff double in the fifth and the Mohigans put the first two runners on in that inning as Kai Henkins followed with a bunt that led to an error and runners at the corners.
After a second bunt led to the first out of the inning with no run scoring, Stavrakis got Mazey to hit a shallow fly ball to left and struck out Bowers to keep the 4-1 lead intact. He credited his ability to mix up the pitch selection.
“You can’t just have one pitch you throw for strikes, because then the other team is able to pick up on that,” Stavrakis said. “You have to have multiple pitches so the other team isn’t just sitting on one pitch.”
MHS head coach Pat Sherald saw that sequence as the final turning point in a game with limited offense.
“Offensively, we’re looking to get our timing down. Guys do a great job of buying in to how we want to play the game. We just have to find a way to get the big hit in situations when we have runners in scoring position,” Sherald said. “That’s been the tale of our season. When we get the big hit, we win, and when we don’t get the big hit, we’re losing these really tight games.”
After allowing a leadoff single to Jackson Bredeson in the sixth, Stavrakis retired six straight batters to finish off the complete game. He finished with four strikeouts and issued just one walk, while surrendering three hits over the seven frames.
“Jacob was on top of his game, and after that first inning, our defense was very good,” Shields said.
Boggs was effective in defeat and allowed four runs on seven hits over six innings.
“Maddox Boggs gave us an opportunity to win a ballgame,” Sherald said. “If your guy holds him to four, you have to try to find a way to win the game. Really, it was a well-pitched game all around.”