Jacobs, Teeters lead Shorewood over Edmonds-Woodway 2-0

Published 8:18 pm Tuesday, March 22, 2016

EDMONDS — Through five innings Tuesday, the Shorewood and Edmonds-Woodway baseball teams were matched in a scoreless pitchers’ duel. To that point, neither team had managed to move a runner as far as third base.

But in the top of the sixth, Shorewood’s Harrison Jacobs changed all that.

With a teammate at first base and two outs, Jacobs got hold of an 0-1 belt-high fastball and launched a blast over the fence in left field, just right of the 310-foot sign on the left field foul pole. That was all the offense the Thunderbirds would need for a 2-0 Wesco 3A victory on a cool, but mostly sunny afternoon.

For Jacobs, a senior center fielder, it was his second home run in as many games this season. They were also the first two home runs in his four-year varsity career.

“I did a lot of work on my swing in the offseason and so far it’s paying off,” Jacobs said.

As he stepped to the plate in the sixth, “I knew I had to get on base,” he went on. “It was a close game and we needed base runners, so I was just looking for a pitch to put a good swing on.”

Warriors pitcher Nick Hull “threw a first-pitch curve ball and I let that one pass (for a called strike). Then he threw a fastball that was sort of what I was looking for.”

Said T-birds coach Wyatt Tonkin, “I told Harrison, ‘That’s what you’ve got to do. If you get a mistake, a ball up, get on it.’ … He’s worked so hard in the offseason on his speed and his strength. His bat speed is just quicker and better this year, and he’s just a smarter hitter.”

Jacobs’ homer made a winner out of Shorewood starting pitcher Riley Teeters, who checked Edmonds-Woodway on one hit through five innings, walking one with three strikeouts. Reliever Tanner Oxnevad notched the save by retiring the Warriors 1-2-3 in both the sixth and seventh.

“I can’t say enough about Riley Teeters,” Tonkin said. “He just threw an outstanding game. He threw strikes. He mixed up his pitches well. He really went out there today and showed me something.”

But if Jacobs, Peters and Oxnevad merited game balls, so did Shorewood left fielder Bryan Host. With two outs and two runners on base after infield errors in the second, Host chased down a long fly ball off the bat of Edmonds-Woodway’s Brady Edwards. Host made the catch in left-center field at Edmonds-Woodway, the deepest part of the yard.

And if Host had the game’s defensive gem, he also had the No. 2 defensive play. With two outs in the fourth and a runner on, he made a running shoestring catch near the foul line to end the inning.

“We work hard every day on our defense,” Tonkin said. “And he made two fantastic catches there.”

The tough-luck losing pitcher was Hull, who went the distance. He gave up five hits, two walks and a hit batter while striking out eight.

“Their guy was tough,” Tonkin said. “He threw a heck of a game.”

“Their hitter crushed a ball to left field and there was no one there to catch it,” said Warriors coach Dan Somoza. “But other than that, I thought (Hull) pitched outstanding.”

“I thought their pitcher pitched great and our pitcher pitched great,” he added. “Our ball to left field, (Host) caught. Their ball to left field, it went over the fence. And that was the difference in the game.”

At Edmond-Woodway H.S.

WP: Riley Teeters. LP: Nick Hull. Individual highlights: Shorewood—Harrison Jacobs (2-3, HR, 2 RBI), Nick Edney (1-2, 1 run); Edmonds-Woodway—Reid Whitson (1-3). Records—Shorewood 2-0 league, 2-0 overall. Edmonds-Woodway 0-1, 2-1.