Jeter pulls double duty for Warhawks
By Jason Mackey
Fans of Madison Warhawk baseball have become accustomed to seeing senior Jesse Jeter win games with his right arm, but as of late, coach Mark Gjormand has been quite impressed with Jeter's bat as well.“He's been swinging the bat real well, and we go off of what he does in practice,” said Gjormand, who used Jeter as his designated hitter Monday night in a Liberty District showdown with Woodson. “Look for him to be in the lineup a lot more.”
Jeter was the hero in a 7-3 win over McLean on April 1, finishing 2-for-2 with a solo home run, an RBI-single and a walk in the first two at-bats since his junior varsity days. The powerful right-hander also earned his third pitching win of the season, striking out five and allowing three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings against the Highlanders.
But on a chilly Monday night in what would become a devastating 3-2 loss to the Cavaliers, Gjormand found himself needing more of Jeter's arm than his bat.
Senior left-hander Ted Williams started the game and made it through the first four innings without a hiccup. Then, as Williams began to labor and allowed back-to-back singles with one out in the fifth, Gjormand called on Jeter to shut the door.
He'd developed a nasty blister in the win over McLean, but Jeter appeared unfazed as he blew a pair of fastballs past Woodson's Dylan Robeson and Brendan Breslin to end the threat.
After striking out the side in the sixth, Jeter didn't have the same success to begin the seventh. Woodson loaded the bases with a Madison error, a bloop single and a hit batter, prompting Gjormand replace Jeter with senior right-hander Andrew Schrock.
“We were keeping him on a strict pitch count, and he had a blister that .. to be honest with you, it sounds crazy, but I could tell he was fiddling with it,” said Gjormand, whose team is 6-3 overall, 3-1 in the Liberty District after rebounding nicely with an 11-5 win over Jefferson Tuesday night.
“I probably should've started Schrock [in the seventh] -- and that's on me, I have to do a better job of managing that situation -- but he's gotten out of situations like those before.”
Schrock induced what should've been an inning-ending double-play ball, but second baseman Casey Turner's throw sailed wide, allowing Woodson to score a pair of runs to tie the game.
After another hit batter and a walk, Schrock found himself with an extremely difficult matchup in Morley -- a battle that Morley eventually won by drilling a 1-1 fastball up the middle for the game-winning RBI.
“I don't have any explanations, don't have any excuses,” Gjormand said. “I thought [Woodson] did a great job. This district is going to be down to the end, so hopefully we'll be able to get this figured out.”