‘He’s Luke, you know’

Wood gives Pennsville six good innings in his first start of the season, then goes behind the plate for the first time to guide his reliever to the save

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Luke Wood does a pretty good job keeping his emotions in check when he’s out on the mound. Inside, his heart might be pounding like a bass drum and every nerve on fire, but outwardly he remains as steady as an ace of the staff should be.

Which is what made what happened on the final pitch of his first start of the season so noteworthy.

Maybe he knew it was going to be his last pitch of the day. Maybe he was just relieved to have pitched out of a little jam in a tight game. Maybe he just appreciated the strikeout.

Whatever the reason, the Pennsville junior let out a very audible “Let’s go,” after he blew a fastball past Woodstown’s Sam Chard for the final out of the sixth before switching places with batterymate Connor Starn to close out Monday’s 4-2 victory.

“I was trying to stay locked in all game, keep my emotions very level,” he said, “but I got out of that first-and-second (situation), which was really huge up by two (and) not giving up any runs there, and I think the emotions came over me. I was excited.

“I’m always pretty fiery when I’m on the mound. Any time I’m throwing well I’m pumped up. It’s a good feeling to go out and throw well.”

Wood thought his first start of the year went “pretty good” outside of the one inning Woodstown scored its runs. He wasn’t on a pitch count and wanted to finish the game, but coach Matt Karr lifted his ace after six innings and 85 pitches “looking out for him” for the long run. No sense in running risk in the third game in April when there’s bigger stakes in late May and June.

The Eagles (2-1) have games against powerhouses Delsea and Gloucester Catholic later this week and as much as the baseball world would love to see Wood on the mound in those situations he probably won’t pitch against either of them.

The left-hander gave up seven hits, a four-pitch walk and hit two batters in his in his final inning on Eclipse Monday, but he struck out nine, including the side in order in the third inning. Woodstown touched him for four straight hits and both their runs leading off the fourth, but he got out of it with two strikeouts and kept the Wolverines off the board the rest of the game.

“He’s Luke, you know,” Karr said. “We get him on the mound and we expect to win a baseball game, he expects to win a baseball game. I think he’ll tell you he can be better. It’s his first outing of the year and we’re still trying to build him up to where he wants to be pitching at the end of May and early June.

“He’s just working through some things, mechanical stuff. He was injured in basketball, so he’s a little behind in his throw program, but he’s a gamer. We know when we put Luke on the mound we can beat anybody.”

When Wood came off the mound for the last time he didn’t go far. He switched places with his catcher in a move he appreciated on a number of fronts. He got to break in the new catcher’s mitt he got for Christmas in anticipation of being behind the plate some this season and he was happy not to be “stuck out in the outfield without much control of what’s going on.”

When he set up for Starn in the seventh, it was his first inning of catching in high school.

It got dicey in the seventh inning. The Wolverines (1-2) put some good swings on the ball against Starn and got the tying run on with one out and loaded the bases with two. But Starn got cleanup hitter Brent Williams to ground sharply to shortstop Peyton O’Brien to end the game.

“Catching six innings your legs are a little tired, but you’ve got to push through it,” Starn said. “You can’t be scared. Being scared you’re just going to get beat every time. I just went out there knowing they’re not better than me, throw it where they can’t hit it and hope they call it a strike.”

In assessing his first-time catcher Starn said “he’s not bad, can’t complain.” Wood will be behind the plate every time Starn pitches going forward.

Woodstown took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on RBI singles by Williams and Rocco String, but the Eagles retook the lead in the bottom of the inning on two-out bases-loaded walks to Jacob Grant and Wood. Jeff Wagner’s two-out RBI double gave them an insurance run in the fifth.

Wagner was the first batter reliever Jack Holladay saw when he followed Jack Knorr, but after the double Holladay struck out the last four batters he faced.

The Wolverines outhit their hosts 10-6, but base-running mistakes cost them potentially five runs, three early and two in the seventh. They ran themselves out of two in the first and botched a squeeze in the fourth.

They cost themselves potentially two more in the seventh when Mark Banff misread Ty Coblentz’ shot to the centerfield fence that resulted in a long single with runners at first and second instead of the corners or better with the heart of the order coming to bat.

“We made three outs on the bases in the first two innings; on top of that we missed three (other) opportunities,” Woodstown coach Marc DeCastro said. “We just relied on beating a good pitcher with hitting and then we couldn’t capitalize on anything outside of that and we couldn’t run the bases, so you get what you get.”

PENNSVILLE 4, WOODSTOWN 2