Myers magic

Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review

All Rights Reserved.

They have the same name, but there’s no relation.

One used his legs, the other his arm.

Together they gave the Patriots the win.

Ethan Myers legged out an infield single to drive in the only run of the night and Jake Myers threw a complete-game shutout while allowing just one hit as the Jay County High School baseball team beat the Wapahani Raiders, 1-0, Thursday night at Don E. Selvey Field.

“I felt good,” said Jake Myers, who struck out six, walked three and surrendered his only hit during the second inning. “I just pitched to contact and really relied on my defense and they did great.

“I usually try to do it myself. I tried to pitch to contact, let the defense take care of it and they did.”

Wapahani coach Brian Dudley, who on Wednesday became the 10th coach in state history to reach 700 career victories, credited Myers for keeping his hitters off balance.

“Probably the best guy we’ve seen all year, to be quite honest,” said Dudley, whose team finished 17th in the most recent Class 3A coaches’ poll.

Mitchel Frasher hit an infield single in the hole between shortstop and third base to begin the bottom of the fifth inning. After Frasher swiped second base, Ryan Schlechty hit a single one-out to left center to give Jay County (2-1) runners at the corners. Jacob Geesaman popped out to the second baseman and Schlechty stole second to put two Patriots in scoring position with two outs.

Ethan Myers, who singled in the first inning and along with Frasher notched two hits on the day, mimicked Frasher in hitting a grounder to the hole at short. Wapahani’s Chandler Wise ranged to his right, backhanded the ball and rifled a throw across the field to Corbin Priddy at first. Myers beat out the throw to score Frasher.

“That would be a good teaching point to anybody,” said JCHS coach Lea Selvey. “Even if it’s in the infield, run it out. Make them make a play, because that was the play.”

Jake Myers didn’t give Wapahani (3-4) too many chances offensively.

He issued a one-out walk to Stephen Vickery in the top of the first, but with two outs Geesaman, Jay County’s catcher, threw out Vickery trying to steal second to end the threat.

In the top of the seventh, Myers induced pop flies to Michael Schlechty in right field and Ethan Myers in center before blowing a 1-2 fastball past Priddy for the win.

“I thought he pitched really well, didn’t try to overdo, and just stayed in his rhythm and threw well,” Selvey said. “Relied a little more on his offspeed … He did a nice job.”

Offensively, Jay County had seven hits — Michael Schlechty and Cole Stigleman each had doubles — against Wapahani starter Drew Young.

The Patriots left two runners in scoring position in the top of the first inning. One frame later, Wyatt Geesaman drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a stolen base but he too was left stranded. In the fourth, Michael Schlechty ripped a two-out double and reached third on a walk but advanced no further.

After Ethan Myers’ RBI single, the Patriots had bases loaded but weren’t able to plate any more runs.

“It is easy to say ‘Sit back and wait on it and take it to right field,’” Selvey said of Young’s breaking ball, on which he relied heavily. “We haven’t seen a lot of curveballs yet. It had a pretty good break on it. I’ll give the kid a lot of credit.”

Young threw all seven innings, struck out seven and walked two.

“I thought our pitcher threw really well,” Dudley said. “If you give up one run in a high school baseball game, and against a good team, you should win most of those games.”

But just as the Patriots had trouble at times connecting with Young’s pitches, the Raiders had more difficulty catching up to Jake Myers’ fastball. He induced a lot of swings and misses.

“We got the hit at the right time, one time,” Selvey said.