Nate Matteson delivers pitch for The Sports Yard in Super 16 Garden State Invitational play.
By Sean Reilly
Jackson Schessler was slated to pitch the first five innings for Complete Performance Baseball Green on Monday night at Diamond Nation.
The right-hander started for his team against The Sports Yard 16U at the Super 16U Garden State Invitational.
He pitched so well, however, that he just kept going. He came within one out of a complete game, as Complete Performance Green, comprised primarily of players from DePaul Catholic (Wayne, N.J.) High School, opened its four-game appearance at the showcase event with a 7-3 victory.
Schessler, who had several varsity outings as a freshman this spring at DePaul, allowed six hits, struck out 10 and walked none to beat his opponent from North Syracuse, N.Y.
He came oh-so-close to going the distance. After striking out the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh, an error and singled resulted in Antonio Morales taking over to face one batter and get the final out.
“I felt good,” Schessler said. “I had been a little shaky since the start of the summer, so this was a really good feeling.”
His high strikeout total without issuing a walk was a result of his outstanding command of a variety of pitches.
“I was using my four-seam and mixing my slider a little bit,” he said. “Also the two-seam on lefties and getting inside on righties, too.”
Complete Performance took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Daniel Stutzke singled to shortstop with one out, stole second, and scored when Frank Morano singled to right field with two out.
Nate Mattison led off the bottom of the first for Sports Yard by legging out a single to shortstop. He stole second, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored on Derek Rice’s sacrifice fly to center field.
Gabriel Santiago hit a one-out single in the second for Complete Performance, and later scored on an error. The Sports Yard forged a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the inning, courtesy of an RBI single from Joey LaFrance.
Gabriel Santiago takes off from first base for Complete Performance Baseball Green.
The Sports Yard began the bottom of the third with a standup triple to center from Matt Freeman, and he scored when Alex Jurkiw grounded out to second for a 3-2 lead.
But after that, Schessler found a groove, and the Complete Performance bats continued to produce, beginning with a three-run top of the fourth.
Gavin Saal hit a one-out single to second base, Bryan Gonzalez was hit by a pitch and Santiago hit an RBI single to right field to tie the game. An error scored the go-ahead run before Hudson Clough beat out a potential double-play grounder at first base to produce the fifth run.
Complete Performance began the sixth inning with a single by Morano and a walk to Saal. Morano scored on a ground out to first base by Santiago, and Saal came home on a wild pitch.
Moreno and Santiago both finished 2-for-3 for Complete Performance Green.