Jordan Gentry didn’t exactly have his best stuff Tuesday night.
But that just shows the level of expectation that the Region B player of the year has set during two unbeaten seasons of baseball for William Monroe High.
Gentry threw four shutout innings with catcher Logan Forloines’ arm, solid defense and an early offensive lead nullifying any threat from Essex as the Dragons cruised into the Group A, Division 2 semifinals with a 10-1 victory of the Trojans.
“I started off slow and I don’t know what it was,” Gentry said. “I think my arm just wasn’t loose and my velocity wasn’t there. Hopefully I’m going to have a lot of rest before Saturday or Friday.”
Forloines helped end the final three innings of Gentry’s stint with a series of heady pickoff throws. Twice he caught runners at first base and in the third inning, a spot-on toss to third allowed third baseman Ryan Leake to tag the runner out near homeplate in a rundown. Essex had to get aggressive on the basepaths because the Trojans spotted Monroe a 4-0 lead with five first inning walks and a Keegan Woolford 2-RBI single.
Forloines refused to let the Trojans take advantage though.
“I don’t think they knew too much about him,” Gentry said. “Most teams don’t do that. They made the mistake of getting off a little too far and he’ll make you pay for that.”
Monroe kept the pressure on Essex with a three-run second that built an insurmountable 7-0 advantage for a Trojans squad that hadn’t scored more than 10 runs all seasons and is built around small ball and pitching. Austin Batten’s 2-RBI single during the second highlighted the inning.
“We were really patient early on,” Maynard said. “We’ve watched (Essex starter Reggie Johnson) play one time and he wasn’t near that wild. We came through with a couple of hits in (those) innings to get those walks in. If you walk this team we just kind of pass the baton to the next hitter.”
Johnson had walked just 13 batters all year coming into the contest.
Monroe added to its lead in the fourth when Ryan Morris uncorked a two-run homerun, his sixth in six games. The 9-0 lead allowed Monroe head coach Mike Maynard to move Gentry off the mound and over to short, keeping him fresh for the semifinals and finals in Salem that start this Friday.
With Gentry out, Morris, Trey Kirby and Dustin Knight threw an inning each to close out the victory.
“You can’t give a team like this free passes, there’s no way you can do that,” said Essex coach Tim Beamer. “That’s hard to overcome with what he’s got on the mound.”
Monroe will take on John Battle High, who edged out Fort Chiswell 4-3 Tuesday night, at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Group A, Division 2 semifinals at Kiwanis Park in Salem.
“This definitely gives us some confidence going in,” Gentry said. “That was a great team effort today, we came out hitting the ball. We haven’t been putting a lot of points up on the board but today we got players across the plate and that’s what counts.”
