MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The Shorewood baseball team gave its starting pitcher Ian Oxnevad a three-run lead before he ever took the mound in Tuesday’s Wesco 3A baseball game against Mountlake Terrace.
It was more than enough.
Oxnevad pitched a complete game two-hitter to lead the undefeated Thunderbirds (8-0 league, 10-0 overall) to a 3-1 win over the Hawks.
Oxnevad’s performance likely pleased the several scouts on hand to watch him pitch, but not everyone was pleased with his performance.
“I thought today was an off day, at least for me,” he said after the game. “The walks really bother me and that’s something that I’ve been trying to cut down on this year.”
Oxnevad walked just two Mountlake Terrace batters, but for him that was two too many. He also appeared as though he might throw his second no-hitter of the season. He held the Hawks without a hit for the first five innings before Jaden Yackley led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single to left field.
After Drew Serres lined out to the second baseman, Jason Shevenko singled to left to score Yackley. It was the first run that Oxnevad has allowed this season, but he quickly settled down and recorded back-to-back pop outs to end the inning and the threat.
“This year, the biggest thing to me isn’t arm stuff, because that’s there, it’s maturity,” Shorewood head coach Wyatt Tonkin said. “He’s older and he’s going about it like a professional. Things that he can’t control, he’s realized, ‘I can’t control these and I’m just going to pitch and do the best I can.’ The results are pretty good. We played pretty solid defense behind him.”
With a dominant pitching staff and a defense that doesn’t make many mistakes, not many teams have been able to challenge Shorewood this season, but the Hawks gave the Thunderbirds one of their toughest tests on Thursday. Mountlake Terrace starting pitcher Ben Reijonen gave up three runs and four hits in the first inning, but allowed Shorewood just two hits the rest of the game.
“Ben was really good,” Mountlake Terrace head coach Andrew Watters said. “He got roughed up there in the first (inning), but he really found it in the second through seventh and had all of his pitches working. He used all his pitches and he did a good job of mixing it up and throwing his off-speed pitches.”
Harrison Jacobs and Spencer Jacobs both had RBI doubles in the top of the first inning for Shorewood and Arthur Pate added an RBI triple.
Building an early lead is something Tonkin and his team have tried to do all season.
“We get out in front and it changes the dynamics of (the opponent’s) game,” Tonkin said. “They’ve got to chase us now and it frees us up a little bit to run a little bit more. … When you put up three (runs), it’s good in the first inning. It really energizes everyone to get going.”
At Mountlake Terrace H.S.
Shorewood 300 000 0 — 3 6 0
Mountlake Terrace 000 001 0 — 1 2 1
Ian Oxnevad and Nick Edney. Ben Reijonen and Nolan Takeya. WP—Oxnevad (5-0). LP—Reijonen. 2B—Harrison Jacobs (S), Spencer Jacobs (S), Edney (S). Records—Shorewood 8-0 league, 10-0 overall. Mountlake Terrace 5-6, 6-7.
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