Gavin Capanegro singles in a run in the first inning for FBA Jays Blue.

By Rich Bevensee

Gavin Capanegro’s turn in the rotation could not have come at a better time for Flemington Baseball Association Jays Blue.

It’s no secret the Jays have struggled this fall. Sitting in the lower half of the Diamond Nation High School Fall League standings, they have allowed opponents to score nearly eight runs per game this season and entered Tuesday’s contest mired in a three-game losing streak.

But perhaps Capanegro’s most recent performance has provided the Jays with optimism as well as some momentum as the league enters its final two weeks of the regular season.

The junior righty from New Hope-Solebury (Pa.) struck out 10 over four scoreless innings and propelled the Jays to a 4-0 win over the Top Corner Sports Whitehawks in Flemington.

Mason Currie and Phil Silvia blanked the Whitehawks over the last two innings and the Jays (3-8-1) notched their first shutout of the season.

“It’s definitely big to get our first shutout,” Capanegro said. “Hopefully this gives us some momentum. We’ll see.”

“It was pitching and defense today,” Jays coach Danny Dunn said. “We didn’t get deep in many counts and there were not a lot of walks, which has been our Achilles’ heel this fall. Nice to see it come together.”

Capanegro, a 5-11 right-hander, used his low 80s fastball and curveball primarily to tame the Whitehawks and exited after four innings and 60 pitches. He used his changeup sparingly and left his slider and splitter in the bullpen when he realized his two primary pitches were giving the Whitehawks (3-7-1) enough problems.

Even Whitehawks coach Jeff Cohen remarked during the game about the effectiveness of Capanegro’s curveball, which had many of his batters bailing out of the batter’s box.

The Whitehawks’ Evan Zangara scrambles back to first base in the fifth inning.

“My slider is more my go-to pitch but it wasn’t working well in the bullpen so I went with the curveball tonight,” said Capanegro, who surrendered three hits and no walks. “I’ll introduce more if I need to but if they’re not gonna swing at the curveball and they’re taking fastballs, I’m gonna keep throwing that as long as I can and keep the rest of the pitches hidden for when they start catching up to everything else.”

Capanegro, making his fourth start of the fall, lowered his ERA to 1.47 over 19 innings. He has struck out 34 and walked just seven.

With 10 whiffs against the Whitehawks, Capanegro came up just shy of his season high, when he struck out 12 TCS Blackhawks on Sept. 23.

“I liked that he had conviction in the catcher’s call – he didn’t shake off much,” Dunn said. “And he went out there and hit his spots. His curveball is very tough to hit. It’s hard to pick up because it has a really tight spin on it, and it’s especially hard to pick up under the lights.”

The Jays have struggled to score in the first inning and take early leads, but Capanegro, batting in the cleanup spot, provided some relief from that trend.

In the top half of the first inning, Nate Plebani walked, advanced to second when Currie walked and scored on a two-out Capanegro single up the middle. Two batters later Evan Marques made it 2-0 on a base hit to left.

The Jays picked up another run in the third inning when a Capanegro walk was sandwiched by base hits from Plebani and Anderson Eide, before Jack Budrewicz worked a bases-loaded walk to score Plebani.

Silvia capped the scoring in the fifth when he singled to right, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.

Capanegro and Silvia were the only Jays with multiple base hits.

Joe Guerra, David Torres and Lucas Dalfonzo accounted for the three Whitehawks hits.

Guerra was fantastic behind the plate, displaying a strong and accurate arm in throwing out two baserunners in the first inning, one at second and the other at third. Not too many Jays took their chances at stealing after that.

Nick Guerra pitched 2⅓ innings for the Whitehawks and surrendered three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts. Ryan Martin allowed a run on three hits and four walks in 2⅔ innings and struck out five. Dalfonzo pitched a perfect sixth with two strikeouts.