Posted: Monday, April 27, 2015 11:48 pm
BY KEVIN HARRIS
Kevin Harris
Posted on Apr 27, 2015by Kevin Harris
JEFFERSONVILLE — With three ranked teams on this week’s schedule, the Jeffersonville Red Devils picked a bad time to have one of their worst performances of the season Monday night at Don Poole Field.
Jeff allowed four unearned runs in the top of the second inning and lost 5-2 to a below-.500 Louisville Eastern team. It was a head-scratching setback for the Red Devils after they thumped Louisville St. Xavier, which entered as the top-ranked team in Kentucky, last Thursday at Poole Field, 12-5.
“They need to learn that they have to bring energy and effort every single day,” Jeff head coach Derek Ellis said about his players. “You’ve just come off a nice victory [last Thursday] against St. X, then you have a mental letdown after that. That just can’t happen.”
Jeff’s difficult week will continue tonight with a home game against Class 3A No. 8 North Harrison. On Wednesday, the Red Devils will travel to Class 4A No. 2 Floyd Central for a make-up game, followed by a home game with 3A No. 3 Jasper on Friday night.
Jeff’s week will end by playing in the Noblesville Classic Tournament on Saturday, hosted by the defending Class 4A state champion Millers.
The Red Devils (5-3) got on the scoreboard first. In the bottom of the first, Nolan Fertig collected a one-out, opposite-field double that reached the left-field corner.
First baseman Joe Burke then smacked a single up the middle to drive in Fertig to put Jeff up 1-0. But during that sequence, Burke tried to stretch his hit into a double and got thrown out at second base.
In the top of the second, the Eagles (6-13) got their first two runners on base via Red Devil errors. Chase Peterson led off the inning by reaching base when Jeff second baseman Jared Burke had a grounder go under his glove.
Red Devil shortstop Bailey Falkenstein followed that miscue up by mishandling a grounder off the bat of Alex Burke. Jeff starter Dawson Willis loaded the bases by walking Justin Coffey, then threw a wild pitch to plate Peterson that tied the game at one.
After Willis struck out Eagles’ catcher Tanner Head, Chad Lanzone put Eastern ahead for good with an opposite-field, two-run double to left field. Willis gave up an infield single and a walk to load the bases again, prompting a visit to the mound by Ellis.
“I just challenged him to bear down, grit his teeth and go at the hitters a little bit. I was trying to see what was inside of him a little bit,” Ellis said.
Bailey Sutton gave the Eagles a 4-1 lead with a sacrifice fly to left to knock in Lanzone.
“We were giving up unearned runs and giving guys extra at-bats and more outs, and that’s one thing that we don’t want to do,” Ellis said. “We’re not good enough to do that. We just can’t allow a four-run inning or a five-run inning with anybody that we play.”
Jeff got a run in the bottom of the second. Catcher Casey Gibson started the frame with a triple to deep right off Eastern starter Kyle Nunn. Courtesy runner Jordan Thomas came in to run for Gibson. Third baseman Ian Ellis drove in Thomas with a base hit to right to cut the Devils’ deficit to 4-2.
The Eagles’ final run happened in the top of the seventh. Cameron Watson smacked an opposite-field double to right off Red Devil reliever Cam Northern to plate courtesy runner Evan Johnson from second.
Nunn got the win in a complete-game effort. The left-hander allowed two earned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. He walked one batter and hit one.
“Their pitcher was pretty good. He kept us off-balance. We struck out eight times. We struck out more times than we had hits, which is not a good combination when you give up four in an inning,” Derek Ellis said. “He wasn’t a very hard thrower by any means, but he was throwing his curveball for a strike and throwing his off-speed pitch for a strike. It looked like he was hitting his spots. That’s what it takes.”
Willis’ record fell to 0-2. In six innings of work, the junior right-hander surrendered four runs, none of which were earned, on four hits. He fanned three, walked two and hit two Eagles.
After the second, Willis yielded no runs on two hits before being pulled for Northern to begin the seventh.
“I challenged him pretty good and he responded. He did a pretty nice job after that,” Coach Ellis said about Willis’ effort following his conference on the mound in the second inning. “I think he zoned in on his concentration a little more. I don’t think he was thinking totally about what he was trying to accomplish out there. I just wanted him to stay within himself and just concentrate on the pitch that’s being called that we’re asking him to throw and not all the other things that’s going on.”
Joe Burke went 2-for-2 with an RBI, while Gibson was 2-for-3 in the loss.
LOUISVILLE EASTERN 5, JEFFERSONVILLE 2
Lou. Eastern 040 000 1—5 6 1
Jeffersonville 110 000 0—2 6 2
W — Kyle Nunn (2-2). L — Dawson Willis (0-2). 2B — Cameron Watson (LE), Chad Lazone (LE), Nolan Fertig (J). 3B — Casey Gibson (J).
Records — Louisville Eastern 6-13, Jeffersonville 5-3.