SHORELINE
The Jackson baseball team is gearing up for the playoffs.
The defending Class 4A state champion feasted on Shorewood’s pitching in a pair of blowout victories. The Wolfpack prevailed 12-2 on April 25 and then 17-2 on April 27 in a pair of Western Conference South Division games.
Senior shortstop Chris Lynch smacked two home runs and junior outfielder/infielder Danny Oh hit for the cycle in the wrap-up of the series at Shorewood High School. The Timberwolves finished with 17 hits for the game.
“The wind is blowing out at a short place,” Jackson head coach Kirk Nicholson said. “Everyone was running and grabbing a bat and trying to get up there. … I’ll take the guys swinging like that this time of the year. It’s supposed to start warming up. You’re supposed to hit like that.”
The Jackson offense warmed up in the opener as Lynch was 2-for-4 with a double and home run, while Riley Lillibridge and Oh each hit home runs.
“I guess we started to see the ball a lot better,” Oh said of the Shorewood series. “We’ve been swinging the bat well all season. … We just saw the pitches well. It’s a good thing for us before the postseason.”
Senior Mike Jeffrey went six innings to pick up the victory in the first game, while Nicholson used three different pitchers in the second contest — Ryan Charawell, Miles Brown and Lillibridge.
While everyone knows about University of Washington-bound Geoff Brown, the rest of the Jackson staff has pitched almost as well as Jackson’s ace.
“We’ve had a fantastic year of pitching,” Nicholson said. “Jeffrey is 5-0 right now. You can’t do anything better than being 5-0 and he’s a sub-2 ERA.”
Coming into the season, Oh admitted he was a little concerned about Jackson’s depth, especially behind Brown. Those concerns are gone as Jackson cruised to another league title.
“It’s amazing,” Oh said. “We came into the season thinking we only had Geoff, but really our lineup is deep and our pitching is deep.”
The biggest concern this year has been the defense and with the regular season winding down, Nicholson finally has zeroed in on his infield.
“I think we are just getting there defensively,” Nicholson said. “You’ve got to realize we’re replacing an entire infield from last year. I’ve played eight different lineups in the infield this year. I think I’ve finally settled on who I have. … When you replace eight guys in your lineup sometimes it takes a while. I’m pretty happy with where we’re at right now.”
One of those faces in the infield only recently arrived on the scene. First baseman Gabe Rochon was called up from junior varsity about two weeks ago.
“We’ve been making a lot of changes at the beginning of the season,” Oh said. “But I think now we’ve got it set. We’re pretty comfortable with what we’ve got on the field. We’ve been playing good defense for the past few games and it will continue. I’m confident.”
Shorewood coach Wyatt Tonkin sees a formidable team in the Timberwolves.
“They’re confident coming off a state championship,” he said. “They’re not the same team they were last year. But they’re solid.”
Jackson’s roster includes a number of seniors and juniors who will be seeing their first significant playoff action.
Nicholson doesn’t see the lack of playoff experience as a problem. If Jackson loses, it won’t be because of a lack of playoff experience, he said.
“The guys that were here they saw what it was like last year,” Nicholson said. “It’s just a game no matter what time of the year it is. No matter where you’re at whether you’re at Safeco or you’re at Shorewood or whether you’re at Jackson, it’s still just a game and you play and you win or you don’t well and you lose. That’s how it’s going to be. I don’t think experience plays into that.
“Once you’ve played 20 games you’re experienced.”
Oh concurs with his coach.
Age doesn’t matter as much as attitude.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are,” Oh said. “It’s just basically how you decide to come out on the field and play.”
The atmosphere surrounding the team is reminiscent of last year’s state championship run, Oh said.
“We feel good about what we did this season and we’re just lucky to be in the postseason again. … We’re ready. We’ve worked hard throughout the season for the playoffs.
“It’s the same atmosphere as last year. It feels good. We feel good as a team right now.”
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