Courtesy: The Hutchinson News
By Brad Hallier, The Hutchinson News, bhallier@hutchnews.com
Three batters into Friday's game at Hobart-Detter Field, and Hutchinson Monarchs pitcher Mason Melotakis didn't look sharp.
He struck out Tanner Gurtner to start the game, but his next eight pitchers were balls, and Salina had two on with one out.
Melotakis was far from concerned. After the two walks, he proceeded to have one of the best outings in the Monarchs' brief history in their 5-0 win in front of a sizeable crowd on Cancer Awareness Night.
Melotakis, who pitches at Northwestern State in Louisiana, allowed two hits in seven innings and had a team-record 14 strikeouts.
"I didn't think I was loose and fully prepared," Melotakis said about the two first-inning walks. "I had to get my mindset right and calm down."
That didn't take long to accomplish. Instead of complicating things in the first inning, Melotakis struck out the last two hitters. He had at least two strikeouts in six innings and struck out at least one Bluejay in every inning.
"Mason has a real good arm," Monarchs coach Andrew Ehling said. "He's good and he has talent. He's worked hard every outing and gotten better each time."
Melotakis provided the third straight outstanding performance by a Monarchs starter. In Thursday's doubleheader sweep of the Wichita Wheatkings, Patrick Clysdale allowed one run on four hits in a five-inning complete game. Then Alex Schell took a no-hitter into the last inning before allowing a one-out double, the only hit Schell gave up.
Friday, it was Melotakis' turn.
"When you have a good pitching staff, it helps the whole team," Melotakis said. "You go out wanting to do the same as they do, if not better. You want to be right there with those guys."
Stephen Gandy, an infielder who was the designated hitter Friday, is a collegiate teammate of Melotakis, so he wasn't surprised with the strong performance.
"Fourteen strikeouts is amazing," Gandy said. "He was just a freshman last year, but he was our Sunday guy toward the end of the season."
Scott Keffer came in relief of Melotakis and threw two perfect innings, striking out four. That's 18 strikeouts out of a possible 27 outs.
With the pitching the Monarchs have gotten lately, runs don't need to be plentiful. Friday, the Monarchs still scored more than enough, getting 10 hits along the way against Salina pitchers Hayden Shirley and Matt Eshleman.
"Those were two pretty good arms Salina threw," Ehling said. "My hat's off to them. They competed in the zone with two pitches. It's tough to stay focused in the box when you know they have two pitches with two speeds."
The Monarchs jumped on Shirley, the losing pitcher, in the second inning. Thomas Holiday continued his hot hitting with a leadoff double. With two outs, Gandy hit the first of his two doubles, scoring Holiday. Tyler Sterling singled and Gandy moved to third. Ryne Head walked, loading the bases, and Ian Atkinson also walked, scoring Gandy.
In the fourth inning, Gandy led off and doubled, moved to third on Sterling's single and scored when Head grounded into a double play.
The Monarchs added two more runs in the sixth inning. Sterling and Head singled, and with two outs, Jordan Pearson reached on Conner Martin's throwing error. Sterling and Head scored on the play.
Six of the Monarchs' hits came from Gandy, Sterling and Head, who hit at the bottom of the batting order.
"The top guys get on, because that's what they do," Gandy said. "When the guys at the bottom of the order come up and hit, that's where the big innings come. I think we can do that the rest of the year."
Especially with the pitching the Monarchs have had.
