After shutout loss, Thomas Jefferson baseball responds with shutout win
The hour-long bus ride home took forever, or so it seemed.
All the Thomas Jefferson Vikings could think about on that return trip from Hopewell Monday night was the 16-0 thumping they’d just taken at the hands of the Blue Devils.
As they rode through the darkness, they felt down, for sure, but never out and, as they processed the painful experience, their collective mindset began to shift from one of disappointment to resolve.
We’re better than that, they told themselves. Tomorrow’s another day. New challenges await. We have goals, and we’re undeterred. We’ll redeem ourselves. Make no mistake…we WILL redeem ourselves.
Tuesday, when Huguenot came calling, Coach Harold Henry’s guys did just that.
Competing with intentionality and quiet passion, they pounced early, racked up four runs in the bottom of the first and nine more in the second, and as the cool breeze picked up and twilight descended upon their well-kept diamond on the northeast corner of their vintage West Grace Street campus, they laid claim to a 13-0 victory that evened their record at 4-4.
“The ride back (from Hopewell) was a little quiet,” said senior second baseman Myles Carrington. “We were upset we took the loss. Defensively, we had struggles.
“Overall, we recovered.”
For sure.
In the first, the Vikings availed themselves of five consecutive walks, one hit (an RBI single by Josiah Crudup), and seven stolen bases to put up their first four runs.
Tim Henderson, Graeme Cox, Markus Ingram, and Nate Knockemus, the Vikings first four batters, ultimately crossed the plate.
“We’re real aggressive (on the bases) over here at TJ,” Carrington said. “Any chance we get, we steal, no matter what.”
The second inning brought more of the same.
Try as they might, there was little the Falcons (0-6) could do to slow the Vikings.
Cox smacked a one-out double to right, hustled to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a second wild pitch.
Ingram followed by smashing a triple to left and ultimately scored on an error.
Before the Falcons could stop the bleeding, Knockemus, Carrington, Kent Whitehead, Crudup, Leroy Cosby, Jakai Johnson, and Cox (again) also added to the mounting run total.
“It’s a really fun atmosphere out here,” said Ingram, a senior shortstop and .500 hitter with a .609 on-base percentage. “It’s a great experience to be friendly with everybody out here and enjoy the real spirit of baseball.”
Cox, a senior righthander, pitched five no-hit innings, walked three, and struck out 11.
“The fastball was working best,” he said. “The main focus today was consistency: trying to find consistency in first-pitch strikes and getting ahead in counts.”
“Doing our jobs is what matters,” he said. “If I’m on the mound, my job is to throw strikes. If the batter hits the ball, my teammates’ job is to field the ball. It’s important to stay consistent in our jobs and our roles on the team.”
After striking out the leadoff batter in the first, Cox walked Tyren Harvey, who stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. He next walked Derrick Payne, who promptly stole second to put runners on second and third with one out.
He then struck out the Nos. 4 and 5 batters swinging to end the threat.
Three Huguenot batters reached base in the visitors’ second, but two pickoff plays — the first catcher (Henderson)-to-first (Knockemus) and the second pitcher-to-first — sandwiched around a strikeout sent the Falcons back into the field.
Cox did not allow a base runner in the final three innings.
“It was a tough loss yesterday, but this group of kids is resilient,” said Henry, who’s coached the Vikings for 25 years. “They’re really dedicated.
“Yesterday, we told the kids on the bus, ‘All the mistakes we made, flush it. Tomorrow, we’ll come back and play better. That’s what we did. I thought we did well.”
