Whitley sharp

Schalick ace takes no-hitter into fifth inning, strikes out 13 in 6 1/3 innings against Audubon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – The way Jamari Whitley rolled out of bed Friday morning he could tell it was going to be a good day.

When the hard-throwing junior right-hander hit the alarm at 5:45 a.m. to start his day, his arm felt good, he knee felt good; he basically felt good all over. And when he is feeling good and he’s pitching that day, that’s a bad sign for the opposition.

Whitley was as sharp as ever Friday in the top-seeded Cougars’ surprisingly tight 5-1 win over eighth-seeded Audubon in the South Jersey Group I quarterfinals. Last year this game was for a South Jersey championship, this year it was just another game to survive and advance.

And because Whitley was at the top of his game, the Cougars (19-7) did both to host Maple Shade in Wednesday’s semifinals.

“I woke up this morning feeling really good,” he said. “I knew it was a big game, the South Jersey final rematch, so I had to come out and perform today and help my team win. Body wise this morning I had no soreness. This morning, feeling nothing in my knee I knew I was going to be able to pitch to my standard. My arm has been feeling good all season so it was just a matter of executing,.”

Whitley was uber-efficient. He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning; Matt Piechowski spoiled the gem with a two-out single up the middle. He ended up allowing three hits and striking out a career-high 13. He fanned eight of the first 10 batters he faced and had 10 Ks through four innings. 

“We were fortunate to have Jamari on the mound today,” outfielder Cooper Willoughby said. “He threw one of the best games I’ve ever seen on this field. He kept us in this game the whole time.”

“Today was a different type day,” the pitcher said.

“We saw glimpses of it last year,” Cougars coach Sean O’Brien said. “I remember him throwing against Woodstown in the playoffs and he threw against Middlesex, he threw excellent. We knew what he’s capable of. He just kind of had to work out some stuff and kind of get ahead of guys and he did a great job of that. Kind of put us on his back until we could actually get things going late.”

Because the pitcher was getting ahead of hitters and throwing strikes, O’Brien gave him every chance to go the distance, but when the Green Wave put two on with one out in the seventh O’Brien lifted him. Cole Hartley finished it off with a ground out and game-ending strikeout.

Whitley’s counterpart in the other green uniform was surprisingly sharp as well. Audubon’s Connor Chester had thrown only four varsity innings in two years before Friday, but he gave the Green Wave five solid innings before tiring in the decisive sixth inning. He held a Cougars team that had been averaging 10 runs a game to a run and four hits over the first five innings. He got the first out of the sixth inning, too, before the Cougars finally reached him.

“We pitched him in a couple games and when we won with our No. 1 yesterday we decided let’s run him out there, see what he can do,” Audubon coach Rich Horan said. “He’s only a junior so we found another 1A and 1B. He pitched really well, he just ran out of gas.”

The Green Wave needed three pitchers to get through the sixth. Chester was pulled after the Cougars loaded the bases on a pair of walks and an outfield error. First reliever Drew Piechowski last two batters. He did have Willoughby down two strikes, but the outfielder choked up on the bat, protected the plate and poked an RBI single through the hole to break the 1-1 tie, then Wyatt Cushane drew a bases-loaded walk and Piechowski was gone. J.T. Fleming greeted second reliever Joe Waller with a two-run single to center to make it 5-1.

Half of the Cougars’ hits, two of their runs and all of their RBIs came from the bottom third of the lineup.

“We were just looking for a break,” O’Brien said. “We’ve been talking to those guys about the back end of the lineup has to find a way to get on so the top end can get us in. That’s what good teams do, that’s what we did last year. It kind of worked out well where the back of the lineup kind of got us going, which is a pretty cool thing. We’ll be a tough team to beat if we can do that consistently.”