Curtis nears milestone but tough section may force longer wait
John Curtis is nearing another milestone in his long and successful career as Jefferson-Morgan’s baseball coach.
With his Rockets stuck in rugged Section 1-A, however, Curtis has been stuck on career win No. 392 ever since they opened the season with non-section wins over Trinity Christian, 4-1, and Beth-Center, 3-1.
Since then Jefferson-Morgan had dropped two games to both Carmichaels and Avella and another at West Greene on Monday.
“This section is a really good section, top to bottom,” Curtis said. “Carmichaels, Fort Cherry, Avella, they’re all tough, and West Greene is good, too. They have good pitching. Even Mapletown, they have good players. There’s no easy games. Every win you’ve got to earn.”
Last week the Rockets fell at home to the Eagles, 14-3, on Tuesday, April 9, and at Avella, 7-3 on Wednesday.
Isaiah Bradick doubled, singled, had two RBIs and was the winning pitcher in the first meeting.
The Eagles blew that game open with an eight-run second inning that included a two-run single by Brayden Fuller and RBIs from Bryce Wright, Brian Martos, Bradick and Westley Burchianti, who had a single and a bases-loaded walk in the frame.
Wright wound up with two hits and two RBIs, Martos contributed a double and a single and Hayden Gatewood and Chaz Rush each also had an RBI.
Brayden Ellsworth doubled for J-M whose only other hits were singles by Brock Bayles and Deakyn DeHoet. Bayles took the loss.
“Brock at the end of last year pitched really well but he’s having trouble with his release point this year,” Curtis said. “We’re trying to pinpoint the problem and get him back on track.”
The Rockets fared better in the rematch the next day but Avella surged ahead when J-M starter John Woodward left after hitting the 100-pitch count.
Wright hit a tie-breaking two-run single in the Eagles’ four-run sixth inning and was the winning pitcher.
Rush was 3 for 3 with an RBI and Martos had two hits and two RBIs for the Eagles who also got an RBI, stolen base and run scored from Burchianti and a sacrifice fly from Bradick.
Wright, who had two singles, gave up three runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 6 ⅔ innings. Martos, who also had a two-run single in the sixth-inning rally, came on in relief to finish the game with a strikeout.
Ellsworth was 2 for 2 with a walk for Jefferson-Morgan which got a run-scoring single by Bayles and a sacrifice fly by DeHoet.
Woodward wound up taking the loss as he surrendered four runs in 5 ⅓ innings and left with the score tied 3-3 and a runner on.
“When John ran out of pitches they capitalized,” Curtis said. “My pitching is not very deep. John is our ace and then Brock, then Ellsworth, than Adams, then Evan Kinha. That’s our staff.”
The Rockets scored twice in the first, Avella pulled even with two in the second but J-M went back in front with a run in the third.
The Eagles tied it at 3-3 with a run in the fifth.
Jefferson-Morgan lost another tough battle at West Greene on Monday.
Lane Allison, Will Shipman and Colin Brady each had two RBIs for the host Pioneers. Winning pitcher Hayden Hamilton allowed one run on two hits with four walks and six strikeouts in four innings.
Allison, Shipman, Morgan Kiger and Johnny Lampe all hit a double for West Greene (3-2, 3-2).
Brenton Barnhart doubled for Jefferson-Morgan (0-5, 2-5) which also got an RBI from Woodward who surrendered four earned runs on three hits with four walks and six strikeouts in 4 ⅓ innings.
With only eight games left on the schedule after Monday, Curtis isn’t likely to reach win No. 400 this season but he does have most of his starting lineup back next year.
Not that he’s giving up on 2024 yet, though.
“We’re not going to hang our heads. We’re just going to keep going to work,” Curtis said. “We’ve got a good coaching staff. We have some kids who really want to play and we have to get the other kids to join in.
“The name of the game is to try to put forth a good effort, improve every game and hopefully knock a few teams off along the way.”