Apr 17, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

Jefferson-Morgan had trouble out of the gate this baseball season with part of that due to success in a different sport.

“We got kind of a slow start because of basketball,” Rockets veteran coach John Curtis pointed out.

Jefferson-Morgan’s boys basketball team had one of its best seasons on record, winning a section championship, a WPIAL playoff game and a PIAA playoff game.

“A lot of my starters were starters on the basketball team,” Curtis said with a chuckle. “We didn’t get as many bullpens in and I couldn’t make them go to two practices a day, although some actually did.”

One of those hoop players came through in a big way on Tuesday.

In a key Section 1-A game, fourth-place J-M hosted fifth-place West Greene in the second of their two-game set with the Rockets winning the previous day 8-4.

Ellsworth twirled a masterpiece.

The senior right-hander tossed a no-hitter, Jefferson-Morgan’s first of any kind in over a decade, according to Curtis. The Rockets won 6-1.

The win evened J-M’s section record at 4-4 and overall record at 6-6 while the Pioneers fell to 2-4 in section play. The top four teams in each section qualify for the postseason.

“The West Greene game was a big game for us,” Curtis said. “We had to sweep them.”

Jefferson-Morgan got off to a shaky start and fell behind 1-0 in the first inning when a walk and a throwing error led to an unearned run.

West Greene would get nothing else off Ellsworth.

“Brayden went out there and had good command,” Curtis said. “He did have three walks, seven strikeouts. They couldn’t make good contact off him, some pop ups, ground balls and a ‘K’ now and then. He was just in control the whole game.”

The Rockets tied it in the second then went ahead to stay with two runs in the third. They tacked on three more runs in the sixth.

Ellsworth hurt the Pioneers with his bat as well as his arm, with two hits and two RBIs. Drew Adams, another one of J-M’s main pitchers, also knocked in two runs and the Rockets also got one RBI each from Tyler McVay and another basketball starter, Dayten Marion.

If one had to guess which J-M pitcher was going to throw a no-hitter this season the obvious choice would’ve been senior ace John Woodward, yet another basketball player.

“Yeah, John’s got a one-hitter and a two-hitter and has a lot of strikeouts,” Curtis said. “But no no-hitter.”

Jefferson-Morgan hadn’t recorded a no-hitter of any kind since the 2015 season when it got three shortened ones. The last was a brief three-inning outing by left-hander Gage Clark when he struck out six in a 19-1 win over Mapletown on April 11.

The previous three were all tossed by Austin Clark with the last one coming just three days before Gage Clark’s no-hitter.

Austin Clark struck out 12 in a five-inning no-hitter on April 8, 2015, in a 10-0 win also over Mapletown. He threw a three-inning no-hitter with eight strikeouts on March 25 that same season in a 15-0 win over Geibel Catholic. Austin Clark also threw a five-inning no-hitter with 12 strikeouts on May 8 of the previous season in another 15-0 win over the Gators.

After that flurry of partial no-hitters in just over a one-year span, J-M hasn’t had one since until Ellsworth ended the drought.

“From last year to this year Brayden’s gotten a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger,” Curtis said. “The mental side of his game has always been good. He’s very confident and he wants the ball. As we speak right now he’s our No. 2 pitcher behind Woodward with Adams No. 3.”

After starting out 1-5, the Rockets have won five of their last six, including four in row, as they head into their final four section games with two each against Mapletown and Jeannette.

“Even counting West Greene, it’s a tough section,” Curtis said. “You’ve got to be on your game everyday and play to win. Greensburg is really good. Carmichaels is good. Avella is good. West Greene and Jeannette could beat anybody any day.”

The Rockets are next slated to play a two-game set with the Maples starting with a 4:15 p.m. meeting at Mapletown on Monday before returning home for a 4 p.m. game on Tuesday.