Mayer hurls Plant to shutout win against East Bay
A smiling Gio Benitez (center) joins with Will Meade (27) to greet Urban Ellis (19) after the senior’s fourth-inning solo homer.
By Chuck Frye, Senior Staff Writer
TAMPA – This was a game where the beginning certainly didn’t foreshadow the end.
When East Bay and host Plant clashed in a Saturday morning matchup, the first two shutout innings that whipped by in 25 minutes indicated a pitcher’s duel was in store. But when the Plant bats started to come alive, the visiting Indians pretty much came apart in a 10-0 Panthers victory that ended via mercy rule in the fifth inning.
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Plant starter Truman Mayer combined an aggressive approach working to contact with a steady defense built to handle the task.
“I just wanted to get ahead in the count, let my defense do its work, and good things will come,” said the junior, who held East Bay to just two hits and a hit batter in going the reduced distance, striking out five. “I’m not a strikeout guy. I keep pounding the strike zone no matter the lead and get ground balls. I’ve got to stay to the approach.”
Junior Truman Mayer was in charge on the mound for Plant as his aggressive style led to a five-inning, complete-game, two-hit shutout with five strikeouts.
The Panthers defense only cracked once with a two-out error in the top of the fourth inning, setting up the lone scoring opportunity for the Indians (now 12-8).
After having a lead-off single erased due to a pickoff, East Bay came alive briefly when Ethan Cunningham drilled a double deep to the left-centerfield gap. In for catcher Johnathan Bryant who reached on an error, courtesy runner Caleb Encarnacion sprinted around from first and got waved home. Only a perfect relay would catch the speedy sophomore, and leftfielder Desan DeCamp hit shortstop Gio Benitez, who fired a strike to catcher Jordan Olivia to nip Encarnacion at the plate and keep East Bay scoreless.
“I thank the defense for doing its work,” Mayer said. “It helped me.”
East Bay courtesy runner Caleb Encarnacion picks up speed as he sprints toward third base and to the plate on teammate Ethan Cunningham’s fourth-inning double …
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.. but perfect relay throws allowed Panthers catcher Jordan Olivia to slap the tag on the tumbling Cunningham for an energizing out that ended the inning.
And it helped ignite the offense for Plant (12-10) in the bottom of the same frame.
With freshman Eli Cruz (reached on the third of four Indians errors on the day) at second due to Decamp’s sacrifice bunt, Panther power came to the fore.
Following up on his third-inning triple, scoring the game’s first run on a throwing error on the play, No. 9 batter Logan Cucchi roped an RBI double down the rightfield line. Top-of-the-order talent Olivia and Urban Ellis followed with back-to-back towering home runs over the rightfield fence, while a run-scoring error capped the five-run frame for a six-run advantage.
Missed signals between East Bay leftfielder Jeffrey Diab (3) and centerfielder Connor Gavigan (20) caused Rhett Dixson’s fourth-inning fly ball to fall in for an error …
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.. while Gio Benitez turns on the speed to score Plant’s fifth and final run of the frame.
When asked of his offense’s battle to extend innings, Panthers veteran head coach Dennis Braun said: “100-percent. We’ve struggled at the plate and that’s what we talked about: let’s just see the ball, get the head (of the bat) out front, and have some fun. I think we’ve been dragging some bad at-bats around in our minds and we’ve gotten a little ticky-tacky at the plate. Hopefully, we can loosen up and let it fly because we’ve got some good hitters. We just need some more consistency.”
Taking catcher Johnathan Bryant’s perfect throw, East Bay second baseman Ethan Cunningham lets Plant courtesy runner Sean Nicholas slide into the tag for a first-inning caught stealing.
Ironically, the Plant attack didn’t need its bats to wrap up the mercy-rule win in the fifth, riding four walks, two hit batters, two balks, a Benitez sacrifice fly, and a game-ending wild pitch to four runs without a hit to hit the 10-run plateau.
“We faced Bloomingdale twice (this week, dropping the pair to the Saladino Tourney champs),” said Braun. “We faced some good pitching and I like to think that helped us a little bit. I think we handled ourselves alright (in those games), that we were getting better, and that translated into (beating East Bay).”
Lanky senior J.J. Groover got off to a fast start on the mound for East Bay before hot Plant bats and soft Indians defense drove him from the game in the fourth inning.
And with senior left-hander Coy Keller slated to start the final week of the regular season on Tuesday at Newsome, Braun is driven to wrap up the season strong.
“The key is, can you be playing well at the end of the year,” Braun said. “We might have to win our district tournament, we might get in (to Regions) without it, but if we get playing well and get into the playoffs, a lot of good things can happen. I don’t think we control that, but that’s always the goal.”
Plant first baseman Will Meade slaps hands with catcher Jordan Olivia after nabbing an East Bay runner at the plate.
Mayer concurred saying: “This game was a good kick-start to Districts. I think we can go pretty far if we can hit the ball hard, throw for strikes, and make plays.”
East Bay will look to right the ship on Tuesday when it travels to take on Chamberlain.
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Plant 10
East Bay 0 – five innings
E 000|00x|x – |0|3|1
P 001|54x|x – |10|9|1
W – Mayer (1-2); L – Groover (3-2)
2B – Cunningham (E); Cucchi, Dixson (P); 3B – Cucchi (P); HR – Olivia, Ellis (P). Records – E (12-8); P (12-10).
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Attacking a first-inning grounder, Plant shortstop Gio Benitez fires to first for the out.
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Indians centerfielder Connor Gavigan draws a bead on Urban Ellis’ first-inning fly ball.
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Panthers leftfielder Desan DeCamp tracks down Karson Horn’s third-inning hit down the line, holding the East Bay sophomore to a single.
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Backed up by shortstop Qwenlen Bennett, East Bay third baseman K.J. Sampson pulls in a third-inning foul pop-up.
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Plant No. 9 hitter Logan Cucchi gestures to his bench after his run-scoring double in the fourth inning. Cucchi also delivered a triple and a walk, scoring three times in a 10-0 win over East Bay.
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Jordan Olivia (center) is greeted by teammates Logan Cucchi (left) and Urban Ellis after his booming fourth-inning two-run home run.
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Indians rightfielder Wesley Willis hustles to track down Gio Benitez’s fifth-inning fly …
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… which brought home Logan Cucchi for Plant’s ninth run of the game.
