Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Home calls after fourth for starter
Jordan Wicks didn’t stick around long enough to find out he had to settle for a no-decision Monday evening.
The Kansas State sophomore from Conway threw four strong innings for Perfect Timing Red and was in a position to pick up the win when he exited the game and headed toward home.
“He looked really good,” Red coach Phil Cebuhar said. “The ball was coming out of his hand pretty well, and his changeup was the lead. His changeup is a very phenomenal pitch, and it’s going to play at a big level. He threw it for strikes.”
Wicks, a left-hander, allowed just two runs (one earned) on three hits as he threw 59 pitches, 38 for strikes. He fanned three Perfect Timing White and walked none.
His only blemish came in the fourth inning when he gave up the first of two home runs by Curtis Washington Jr., which cut Red’s lead to 3-2.
“I’m sure he would like to get that pitch back,” Cebuhar said. “He’s a competitive pitcher and a competitive guy out there. Curtis Washington put a good swing on it.”
Good showing
Jalen Reece knew he would see some pitching duty during Monday’s game, but his trip to the mound came a little earlier than expected.
The right-hander from Ecclesia College, started the game in right field, but he was called upon to pitch in the second inning of White’s 5-4 victory over Red at Tyson Park.
“I was supposed to pitch the fourth and fifth innings,” Reece said. “But coach needed me, so I put out and did what I could.”
Reece, who played his high school ball at Denton (Texas) Guyer, pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief before he headed back to right field. He became the third of four White pitchers used, and he allowed just one hit and struck out three while issuing three walks in a 38-pitch outing.
And he was consistent with one thing while on the mound — the pitch he threw.
“Mainly, it was my fastball,” Reece said. “That’s all I needed to throw, and I threw it 100 percent of the time. Just a four-seam fastball.”
Reece, who recently finished his freshman season at Ecclesia, said he just wants to use the league as a means to get better. He said he would like to go from Ecclesia to an NCAA Division I school soon, but it’s too early to make a move like that at the moment.
“I’m just working on myself right now.”
An honest mistake
Cebuhar was quick to correct home plate umpire Brennan Dooly of the mistake he made during the bottom of the second inning of Monday’s game.
When Nathan Lyons struck out swinging, Dooly called it the third and final out of the inning. When Cebuhar told him it was just the second out, Dooly pointed out there was a ground out and two strikeouts.
Dooly was correct in that sense. However, Ryan Kneeshaw saw his third strike eluded the White catcher and rolled to the backstop, then he safely raced to first ahead of the throw.
“I’m just trying to keep the game in line,” Cebuhar said with a laugh. “I’m giving the home plate umpire a little grief. I like to have a little banter with him.”
Cebuhar and Dooly are good friends and former teammates at Arkansas-Fort Smith.
“It would be funny if he threw me out of a game,” Cebuhar said. “I think we would have a good laugh about it later on, but I think we have a good relationship.”