By Bob Bellone, correspondent
RIVERVIEW – Senior left-hander Leo O’Shinski had eight strikeouts in five solid innings and helped his own cause with a towering home run, leading Plant to a 9-3 non-district victory at Riverview.
O’Shinski (2-0) struck out the first six batters he faced, and no one reached base against him until Mac Jorgenson led off the bottom of the fourth with a double. By then, the Panthers held a four-run advantage on the strength of three homers.
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Sharks starting pitcher Brendan Herrick (1-1), a senior transfer from Lennard, allowed only three hits through four innings. Each one, however, cleared the left-field fence – solo shots by Sam Nation in the first and Matt Coker in the second and a two-run blast by O’Shinski in the fourth.
Panthers coach Dennis Braun wasn’t shocked by the power surge.
“I knew the wind was going to be blowing out,” he said. “We’ve been here a few times, and for some reason it always seems to blow out when we play here. So, we talked about trying to get some balls in the air, and we were able to do that a few times early.”
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| Plant senior Leo O’Shinksi (File photo). |
“It felt good, a little relief,” said O’Shinski, who also scored the last Plant run after being struck by a pitch off his helmet during a five-run fifth.
On the mound, O’Shinski was in complete command until he took a 9-0 lead into his fifth and final inning. He issued a walk to Ty Correa, who advanced to third on a two-out single by Herrick and crossed on a wild pitch.
Riverview (2-1) was down to its final out when Matt Masse clubbed a two-run homer off Coker, who moved over from third base to pitch the last two innings of another victory for Plant (3-0).
– Bob Bellone, with more than four decades of experience in sports reporting, returns for his second season with 813Preps.com.
