By: Joe Blystone
PETTISVILLE – Whatever the level, baseball coaches hope their numero uno on the hill can give that great performance for the first game of the season.
Fayette coach Matt Maginn got a masterpiece out of his son Shane, as the junior righty fired a 3-hit, 11 strikeout gem in a 6-0 shutout of Pettisville.
“It was getting to the point where I didn’t want him to go much more,” the elder Maginn said of the Maginn on the mound. “But he said he was feeling good.”
“We have five or six kids who can throw any given day so we don’t have a game til Tuesday. He pitched well, he’s done it before, I just hope he can continue to do it.”
Fayette took a 2-0 lead in the second off Blackbird starter Rylan Warner with a little help.
With one down, Warner struck out carter Lavinder, but the third strike got away allowing Lavinder to reach first.
Gavin Figgins’ walk gave the Eagles runners at first and second where Dane Andrews a double down the left field line to plate one run and a wild pitch allowed the second to score.
“Dane is a freshman and he is only going to get better,” said Maginn. “If he gets in the weight room it will help him a lot.”
Fayette tacked on another in the third when Maginn walked, went to third on a wild pitch, stole third and came home on an infield error.
Meanwhile on the mound, Maginn was throwing goose eggs on the scoreboard.
Warner’s sharp single in leading off the third was the Blackbirds first hit and when the Blackbirds pitcher stole second and third around a fly out, Pettisville had a runner at third with one out.
But Maginn got a strikeout and pop up to end the inning.
Luke VanDenBerghe single with one out the next inning, stole second and reached third on a groundout, and again Maginn got an inning ending whiff to keep Pettisville off the board.
Warner’s base hit in the fifth and a pair of steals was the last Blackbird threat, and that too went fruitless as Maginn got a strikeout and bouncer to the mound to end the rally.
From that point, the Eagles extended their lead with a pair of runs in the sixth and another in the seventh.
Caden Leininger starter the Eagles off in the sixth with a base hit up the middle and after he stole second, Skylar Lester line drive hit brought him home for a 4-0 lead.
Lester eventually found the plate on Braxton Jacob’s check swing infield hit with two down.
“In years past those probably would’ve K’s with him. This year he is seeing the ball better,” Maginn explained of his senior third baseman.
“He did a little maneuver with his feet in the batting cage and it’s helped.”
The final Eagle run came on Maginn’s single, an error and a double play ground out.
The Eagles committed just a single error in the game, backing up Maginn with a solid defensive effort.
“We had one error and that was in the last inning,” Maginn explained. “We haven’t had many years we’ve been able to say that. Used to be that we would make one and it turned into a million of them.”
The Eagles made the most of their five hits and Andrews, Lester and Jacob each had an RBI.
The Eagles travel to Bowsher Tuesday while Pettisville travels to Liberty Center on Tuesday.
FAYETTE 021 002 1 – 6 4 1
P’VILLE 000 000 0 – 0 3 3
Record: Fayette 1-0, Pettisville 2-0
WINNING PITCHER: Maginn (7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 11 strikeouts)
LOSING PITCHER: Warner (5 innings, 3 hits, 5 runs, 2 earned, 11 strikeouts, 3 walks) Other: Horning
LEADING HITTERS: (Fayette) Andrews – double, RBI; Leininger – 2 singles; (Pettisville) Warner – 2 singles
Joe can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com