By Nathan Deen
Published on February 13, 2008
Baseball Double-header, Friday, February 15th
Game 1
Northwest Shoals Community College 5, PJC 10
Game 2
Northwest Shoals Community College 0, PJC 4
Freshman left fielder Bear Comer was the difference for PJC in both games against Northwest Shoals (Ala.). Comer made a game-breaking play both offensively and defensively. PJC head coach Bill Hamilton called him”the player of the day.”
In the fourth inning of game one, Comer turned a 3-1 lead into a 6-1 lead with a three-run home run, his first of the season. In the sixth inning of game two, with two outs and two men on base and the Pirates trying to hang on to a 3-0 lead, Comer made an incredible defensive play to prevent potentially two runs from scoring. He made a diving effort to prevent a base hit from turning into extra bases and then managed to make an incredible throw to third baseman Robert Beary, who tagged out a runner to end the inning.
“I knew that if it got by me, a run would score,” said Comer, “so I just dove and kept it in front and came up throwing because I knew that since I was on the ground that the runner would be running to third.”
PJC swung the bats well in game one. After falling behind 1-0 early, the Pirates got going in the second inning as center fielder Todderick Stevenson hit a two out single that drove in two runs. Comer gave PJC the 6-1 lead and PJC added three more runs in the fifth and another in the sixth.
Ryan Ditthardt went 3-4 with a double, a solo-home run and two RBI’s. Alex Melendez scored two runs and went 2-3 with a double and a RBI.
Game two was all about defense and PJC played a near perfect game, much to the credit of the shutdown pitching effort shown by freshman Joey Delgado. In six innings, Delgado allowed no runs, recorded four strikeouts and allowed just four hits.
Hamilton said that Delgado could be very valuable as a starting pitcher and a potential third ace to accompany sophomores Chris Sorce and Miguel Mejia.
Catcher Yariel Soto led PJC offensively, going 2-3 with two doubles.
