Evan Gonzalez cracked a triple for Baseball U PA. in the Blue Chip Prospect on Monday.
By Rich Bevensee
Midway through what would turn out to be his best outing of the summer, Conor Healey momentarily lost control of his emotions.
He knew it, his catcher Zachary Budzak knew it, and his coach Matthew Moreira knew it, too.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Budzak sprung out of his crouch to snare a high fastball and knew his typically cool pitcher was irked about hitting a batter and walking another with two outs in a one-run game.
“Calm down, you got this,” Budzak said calmly, and just like that, Healey returned to his usual self.
The righthander got a fielder’s choice to end the inning, then retired the final nine batters to polish off a two-hit, complete game shutout. It was Healey’s finest effort of the summer and it carried Baseball U PA 16U-Regional to a 1-0 victory over the Syracuse Sports Zone Braves in the 18U Blue Chip Prospects, Powered By Victus on Monday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“For some reason I felt really good in the seventh inning,” Healey said. “I’ve had some good outings, like five or six innings, but a complete game shutout’s pretty cool.”
Baseball U will face Thunderwolves Baseball on Tuesday, Body Armor Titans 2025s on Wednesday and Zone Select on Thursday in the annually heavily-recruited Blue Chip Prospects showcase.
Syracuse will face Zone Select on Tuesday, Iron Nine Baseball on Wednesday and The Sports Yard on Thursday.
Sports Zone catcher Joe Gennario threw out two runners at second trying to steal.
The top five teams in the Blue Chip event qualify for the Super 17 Top 25 Showcase Aug. 12-15 at Diamond Nation.
Healey struck out five and gave up just those two hits and two walks.
It was a fine way for Healey, a 5-10, 155-pound rising junior at Dallas High in Dallas, Pennsylvania, to close the summer with his current Baseball U teammates. This weekend Healey will join Baseball U’s national team for a tournament in Pittsburgh.
“The curveball was tunneling nicely with the fastball,” Healey said. “The feeling was to get ahead and keep ‘em guessing. I’ve always been like that. I’ve always considered myself more of a pitcher than just a thrower.”
“He was very good at being efficient, getting ahead of guys,” Moreira said. “One thing we always preach is getting to two strikes before two balls and he accomplished that throughout the course of the game. He had a handful of strikeouts and no one got to third base. That’s a good day.”
It’s understandable that Healey was irked about giving two free passes to the Braves in the fourth. He was working in a one-run game and the Braves pitchers, lefty Connor Usowski and righty Tom Menar, were nearly as stingy as Healey, as they would combine to scatter just six hits.
Healey’s team had just handed him a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth when James McMynne roped a two-out double to drive in Reese Zalewski.
In the bottom of the fourth, Healey hit Nolan Merrow with a pitch and walked Joe Gennario on a 3-2 pitch, which triggered his anger. Healey tried to put some extra mustard on his second pitch to Jeremy Albert but he fired high and outside for a 2-0 count and Budzak knew his pitcher was out of sorts.
“I saw him overthrowing so I was like, ‘Calm down, pitch for strikes, trust your defense,’ ” said Budzak, a rising junior at Pittston High, a rival of Healey’s Dallas High. “I got that from high school. That’s how we talk to our pitchers. So my thing was, just talk to him, that’s all you have to do.”
“I was ticked off when I got to 2-0,” Healey said. “I was thinking I can’t let my emotions control the game, because emotions can get the best of you no matter how good you are. So it was lock back in, do your thing, be smooth down the mound, get in your legs and hit your spots.”
Healey escaped the jam with an especially heady play by shortstop Zalewski. With runners on first and second and one out, Zalewski caught and then dropped a line drive from Albert. Zalewski picked up the ball, tagged Merrow at second and stepped on second for the force out and an unassisted double play.
“I give all the credit to these guys,” Moreira said. “They’ve been playing together for a long time. They pick each other up very well, they know how to talk to each other and how to encourage each other to play good baseball.”
Healey cruised from that moment on. In the sixth he ended the inning by striking out two Braves looking on drop-dead curveballs.
“Two straight strikeouts on curveballs, that’s typical Conor,” Budzak said. “He has complete control of it. He can throw it in a 3-2 count, and he shakes me off on the fastball because he knows he can throw it for a strike.”
For Syracuse, Usowski went four innings and allowed one run on five hits and four walks with three strikeouts. Menar pitched the final three scoreless innings and gave up one hit and four walks and he struck out four.