Reagan lefty twirls four-hit shutout
By Mark Kusenberger
tsrnsports.com
Special to SAsports.com
Before Madison’s game against the Reagan Rattlers Tuesday afternoon at North East Stadium, Madison Coach Gordy Gesell asked Reagan coach Chans Chapman if he could turn his starting pitcher, Casey Selsor, into a crafty lefty instead of a power pitcher.
It was probably worth a try, but it didn’t work.
Coach Gesell also said that Madison needed to improve on the 10 strikeouts they suffered when they faced Selsor in the first round of district.
They did; the Mavericks struck out only four times. But that didn’t help either.
Selsor (8-0) gave up only four hits – the last by Taylor Gesell was the only hit to leave the infield – in shutting out Madison 6-0.
Brian Ehrlich got two of Madison’s hit on bunt singles in the first and third innings. Nick Lee beat out a single for Madison’s other hit in the 6th.
Reagan, who had six hits against Roosevelt in the first inning Saturday, scored without a hit in the first inning off Nick Lee (2-2). With one out, Jordan Mengele struck out, then reached first when strike three went to the backstop. Madison second baseman Bob Alonzo made a terrific running, over-the-shoulder catch to rob Selsor of a bloop hit for the second out. Mengele went to second on a wild pitch. Then Santiago Ruiz, after fouling off 3 full-count pitches, hit a grounder to shortstop; a bad throw allowed Mengele to score, making it 1-0 Reagan. Vinny Postert and James Spiers walked to load the bases, but Lee struck out Ben Mrachek to strand the bases loaded.
Mrachek made up for it in the fourth. After Spiers led off with a single, Mrachek came to bat again. On the first pitch, Mrachek showed bunt, pulled back the bat, swung, and hit a homer to left field making it 3-0 Reagan. Two outs later, Derrick Walls walked, went to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a Mengele single to make it 4-0 Reagan.
Madison’s most serious threat came in the sixth. Brandon Clark drew a leadoff walk, then Selsor struck out Ehrlich and got Julian Duran to pop up to second. Nick Lee beat out his infield single to put pinch-runner Trent Drummond on second, then Paul Silva was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Devin Myler, batting as the potential tying run, then hit a slow roller past the mound, and a hard-charging Derrick Walls came in from shortstop to throw to first and retire Myler to end the inning.
Reagan added two more in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run single by Ruiz.
Selsor needed only 79 pitches to go the distance against Madison. He struck out 4, walked 1, and hit 2 batters.
Reagan extends their record to 24-2 for the season and 12-0 in 26-5A. Madison falls to 16-10 and 8-4 in 26-5A. They remain two games ahead of 5th-place MacArthur in the battle for the final playoffs spots in 26-5A.
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