On a chilly, windy day, New Jersey’s Chatham High School left-handed pitcher Drew Speace said that he delivered one of finest high school performances of his career on the bump, firing 5.1 inning of no-hit, scoreless baseball.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Jack Hadzima came in and slammed the door shut, while the Cougars’ offense did its part, putting up eight runs across the board en route to an 8-0 lopsided, no-hit victory over Parsippany Hills Monday at home.
Glowing head coach Todd Leathers could not stop smiling, despite the frigid condition, after Chatham routed the Vikings (6-5) for its ninth win of the season, already matching last year’s nine-win total.
He credited the duo of Speace and Hadzima for their sheer, lights out pitching effectiveness, while the Cougar bats put forth a workman-like performance, and their defense made several solid plays in the field.
“It was probably my favorite game we played all year,” Leathers said. “Just show up, do your work. Drew obviously threw the ball real well. Jack came in and threw well. We had some big hits early on, and we found a way to kind of grind a run or two almost every inning. Our defense played well, too. We just played real good baseball today. It was great.”
Although he said he a little trouble getting ahead in the count at first, Speace dialed in with his best stuff, and was able to ultimately shut down the opposition.
“I felt good. My defense was making plays behind me,” said Speace, who struck out 10 batters while allowing just four walks and a base runner on an error in the victory. “My two seamer (fastball) was working really well. My curve ball was working; everything was really working well. I struggled a little bit getting the first pitch strike down, but I just locked in after that, and got it done.”
After Speace retired the Vikings in the top of the first, Chatham scored three runs on sophomore Kieran Brendle RBI single, and a two RBI triple from senior Dalton Loftin that gave the Cougars a 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the first.
After that, junior Tyler Jacobs increased Chatham’s lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the second.
The Cougars tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning and two in the sixth frame to put the tilt out of reach for the Vikings.
Chatham travels to Parsippany Hills Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.
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— Jerry Del Priore