By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Senior Night was capped with a Salvy Splash, Shawnee Heights style.
The T-Bird baseball team celebrated winning the United Kansas Conference league title and a season sweep of rival Seaman by drenching coach Jason Brown with a Gatorade bucket on the pitcher’s mound.
Shawnee Heights rode a strong pitching performance from Brody Cooper to a 5-0 win over Seaman Tuesday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights rode the pitching of junior Brody Cooper and some scrappy plate appearances to defeat Seaman 5-0 at the Bettis Sports Complex Tuesday. The T-Birds had defeated the Vikings 6-3 in extra innings the previous Friday.
The win lifted Shawnee Heights to a 19-7 season mark. The T-Birds had already locked up the league title prior to first pitch Tuesday, but Brown chose to not reveal that fact until after the game.
“One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to win the UKC,” Brown said. “And I wanted them to not just be happy with it but to go and take it. And that’s what they did tonight.”
The T-Birds scratched out three runs in the second inning, each runner crossing the plate on a base-on-balls. They plated two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on a ringing single by Carson Garner.
Cooper held Seaman to just a single through the first six innings, recording seven strikeouts in the process. When the Vikings’ Cale Rosenberger led off the seventh with a double, Brown lifted Cooper for reliever Dolton Wyatt. Wyatt protected the 5-0 lead with three straight outs.
“That’s one of the best pitching performances I’ve seen in a long time,” Brown said of Cooper’s effort. “Every pitch he was throwing, he was throwing for strikes. They were competitive. He wasn’t out of the zone. He was allowing them to make contact and then allowing our defense to play behind him. He got a ton of popups and our outfield play was unbelievable.
“He’s a big kid, throws hard, has four or five pitches that he can throw for strikes. I told him at the beginning of the season, ‘Our season’s going to ride on you, man. No pressure. But as you go, we go.’ ”
“Outfield was electric. Couldn’t have done any better,” Cooper said. “Third baseman Jackson Hayes … perfect. It makes my job a lot easier.”
Leading 3-0, Garner broke the game open in the sixth. He did so after Seaman elected to intentionally walk the batter before him in the lineup.
“They intentionally walked Deacon Pomeroy, and I said, ‘Make ‘em pay,’” Brown said of Garner. “And he did, a great swing on the ball, gets two runs home. That gives us a little insurance going into the last half.”
With the league trophy in the case, the T-Birds now look ahead to the playoffs. Brown said they won’t know their final seed for a couple of days, but he anticipates hosting a Class 5A Regional game at Bettis on Tuesday. He said he sees potential for a playoff run in his team.
“Our pitching is great,” Brown said. “We’re being a lot more patient at the plate. We’re willing to take those walks, to take those hit-by-pitches to get on. And then we get a big hit by somebody. So, I think we’re rolling at the right time.”
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 5, SEAMAN 0
Seaman (18-7) 000 000 0 — 0 2 0
Shawnee Heights (19-7) 030 002 X — 5 6 0
Cooper, Wyatt (7) and Pomeroy. Cushing, Unruh (2), Rosenberger 6) and Dobbs. W — Cooper. L — Cushing. 2B — Seaman: Rosenberger. Shawnee Heights: Johnson.
