When Derek Jones took the mound April 4, Arlington coach Doug Plucker knew his group was in for a tough outing.
Jones, the baseball/football star of Snohomish is being scouted by Arizona and Arizona State University to play baseball. Before he moves to the warm weather, Jones nearly gave a no-hit performance against Arlington. His pitching command held the Eagles hitless through six innings before surrending two hits in the bottom half of the seventh. At that point the game had long been decided.
Arlington struggled at the plate all game, striking out eight different times. They could not mount much of a charge against Jones, who displayed a potent fastball and a wicked change-up.
Three singles for Snohomish in the top half of the first inning produced the games first run. Snohomish continued to pound out hits in the second, scoring again after a triple and a single.
Arlington starting pitcher Andrew DeFreese began to tire in the third giving up five runs on four extra base hits. Staked to a seven run lead, Snohomishs Jones found a comfort zone. He cruised through the middle innings, dispatching one Eagle batter after another.
In the sixth, a passed ball charged to the Snohomish catcher turned a Greg Holsworth strike out into a baserunner. A balk on Jones advanced Holsworth to second base and a second passed ball got him to third. Caleb Scarth then grounded to shortstop to score Holsworth for Arlingtons first run of the game. Still, Jones had not allowed a hit to the Arlington side and got a ground ball to second base to end the sixth inning.
After Snohomish went quietly in the top half, an infield single by Andrew Disotell broke up the no-hit bid in the seventh. Disotell slid feet first into the bag to make sure he would be safe. Alex Rhodes drove Disotell in with a deep double to the left-center gap, Arlingtons best contact all night. After Jerod Baker was hit with a pitch with two outs, the tension level on Snohomishs bench rose just a little. But Jones quickly got a ground ball to second base to end the game.
Considering Jones already tossed a number of shutouts this season, Arlington took some measure of pride after scoring two runs against him.
Coach Plucker did not have a disparaging word for Jones afterward.
Hes a great pitcher, its hard to take anything away from him. Ive talked to my pitching staff about studying his mechanics.
There will be better days for the Arlington hitters, said Plucker.
We kept our heads in the game. We battled. We got stronger. Its not fun to lose, but we can take some lessons from this one.
Arlington tangles with Stanwood on April 13.