SHELBY — With a big matchup with Ravenna on deck, Shelby coach Brian Wright “rolled the dice” Tuesday that his Tigers could get by rival Hart without his top two pitchers, DayDay Garcia and Trevor Weiss, taking the mound. His ‘other’ pitchers proved him right.
Eli Kelley and Leighton Belasco took the reins on the mound, limiting the damage by Pirate hitters and helping the Tigers cruise to a doubleheader sweep, 9-0 and 17-4. Game two ended in six innings due to the mercy rule.
The wins pushed Shelby into a first-place tie with Ravenna, which is ranked No. 8 in the state in Division 3, heading into a very big doubleheader between the teams Friday. A win in either game would put the Tigers in position for at least a share of the West Michigan Conference Rivers championship.
“Both my 1 and 2 were ready to come in in relief (if needed), but those other kids have pitched well, early this year, too,” Wright said. “Two well-pitched games. And we hit it, finally. Our hitting has been up and down. Hitting is contagious. Tonight, they were running to the bat rack. They couldn’t wait to bat.”
Kelley fired a shutout for Shelby in game one, striking out 12 and allowing only three hits. On offense, Garcia, Weiss and Jaden Furman each got a pair of hits and drove in two runs.
Game two looked much the same early when Garcia lashed a home run to start things off. However, Hart was able to work some walks off Tiger starter Chase Simon and grab a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Wright went to Belasco, and the sophomore calmed things down and pitched the rest of the game, striking out 12 and permitting only two hits.
Wright said Simon has pitched well this year and simply battled his command early on, but he was impressed with Belasco’s mindset when called upon.
“Leighton came in, and he really acted like, ‘Give me the ball. I can get the curveball over,’” Wright said. “It was good stuff to see.”
Garcia got three hits in the nightcap, and Furman, Simon, Cam Smith and Evan Waller got two apiece.
Furman’s two hits were especially notable as they came from the bottom of the order. Any team is better when the hitters in those spots can put up some numbers, and the Tigers are no exception.
“That’s what we need,” Wright said. “We’re going to face two good arms on Friday, but when you can get some stuff from the bottom of the order, then all of a sudden, the lineup rolls over and DayDay’s back up again.”
Hart was plagued with fielding miscues, said coach Kyle Weiler, which has been a theme with the young, inexperienced team. Weiler said the team has actually improved some in that area of the game, but now is struggling more with its confidence when those errors occur.
“It’s an everyday talk about errors,” Weiler said. “It’s now also going into between the ears. When errors are happening, they start to get down on themselves. I would say at the beginning of the year, that wasn’t the case. We’ve changed in that aspect, and unfortunately in a negative way. I’m hoping to turn that back around.”
Weiler added that it’s possible the confidence issues compounded when some struggles in the field helped push the Tigers ahead after Hart had taken a first-inning lead.
“It makes it feel worse, especially when you let a game like that go,” Weiler said. “At the end of the day, we don’t look at them as losses. They’re learning (opportunities). Hopefully, we can learn from it.
“Unfortunately, today didn’t go our way. There’s a lot of things we need to tighten up on. At the end of the day, we’re having fun and that’s what it was about.”
