Published: May 13, 2008 01:03 am            

Jumpers win on Senior Night

Somerset — Charlie Taylor Field on Monday, as Somerset High School honored eight seniors and beat a good Cumberland County team 3-1 to put a fitting close on a nice evening.

The visiting Panthers, coached by Andrew Reliford, came from the 4th Region and sported a fine record of 16-7. Interestingly, Cumberland County was 10-0 versus teams outside of the 4th Region until Monday night, including wins over both Pulaski County and Southwestern. So it would take a good effort to keep the Panthers from spoiling the positive mood felt by everyone after honoring the seniors between games of the JV/Varsity doubleheader.

And it was one of those eight seniors, Kenny Hughes, who would steal the show—on the mound of all places. The powerful outfielder got his first chance in a while to throw some innings and rest the regular starting staff. He responded by throwing a two-hitter.

“I thought Kenny Hughes pitched great,” said Somerset Head Coach Phillip Grundy. “He battled out there and threw strikes. That’s all we wanted from him. He has always had the arm, so the potential has always been there. Tonight I thought he actually got stronger and more confident as the game went on.”

But Hughes had a strong foe to go against in lanky Panther hurler Cody Pruitt. A two-run single down the right field line by Jumper senior Adam Wallen produced the only two earned runs in the entire game.

“This was a really good team we beat tonight,” said Grundy. “Cumberland County’s pitcher (Pruitt) had the best curve ball we’ve seen all year. We missed some scoring opportunities early, and we hit some balls hard, but right at somebody. It’s easy for me to want to score 15 runs a game, but, as a former pitcher I can tell you, we were lucky to get three runs against this guy tonight. We were just fortunate that we got a huge effort from Kenny, and played great defense behind him.”

Somerset has been struggling as of late to execute when called on to play small ball. In the sixth inning, freshman Erik Manning was able to lay down a nice bunt to move a runner to third. The runner, Chris Fitzpatrick, would eventually score, giving the Jumpers an insurance run going into the seventh.

“That bunt by Manning was the first bunt we’ve executed in forever,” said Grundy. “We need to sharpen up our game on the smaller points, like bunting, getting a better jump on the base paths, getting better leads….We have to play that way to score runs. We have to be aggressive on the base paths.”

As for the Senior Night celebration, eight seniors were honored: Will Barnette, John Cole, Chris Fitzpatrick, Chase Hall, Kenny Hughes, Corey Price, Nathan Waddle, and Adam Wallen. All eight were in the starting lineup, with junior Jeremy Toohey starting in his usual center field spot.

Two usual reserves, Will Barnette and Nathan Waddle, got starts to honor their service to the Briar Jumpers. Waddle even reached base after getting nailed in the back with a Pruitt curve ball. The happy senior seemed to be celebrating on the way down to first.

“These are two great guys,” said Grundy. “This is their first year in our program after coming from Somerset Christian, and I’m just sorry I didn’t get a chance to play them more. I know it’s hard on them, but we had so many returning starters on the team this year, there just wasn’t enough opportunity for them.

“But these are two young men who have shown great character since being with us. They’ll get another chance to start tomorrow and get some playing time. I’m happy that they get a chance to play some now.”

The importance that the other six seniors have had on the program was noted during the ceremony. The P.A. announcer thanked them for bringing championship baseball back to the Briar Patch, and all of them gave written statements that reflected on their regional championship last year, but signified that they have unfinished business this year. Several of this year’s senior class have athletic scholarships waiting for them in college, indicating the impact they have had on the Somerset Sports’ Program.

Tuesday the 16-12 Jumpers are back in action against the Monticello Trojans at Charlie Taylor Field.



Cumberland Co. 000 100 0 = 1 2 1

Somerset 002 001 * = 3 7 2





Cumberland Co.—

Pruitt 6IP, 2ER, 3R, 7H, 6K, 6BB, 1WP



SB—Pruitt, Ashley





Somerset—

Hughes 7IP, 0ER, 1R, 2H, 6K, 3BB



SB—Cole, Price, Henderlight

RBI—Wallen 2.

        

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