Decker tosses gem as Blue Ridge grabs Class A title

BY CONOR FOLEY
Times-Shamrock Writer

Jake Decker said he felt something unusual before Monday’s game.

Nerves.

“I didn’t have the confidence today, I really didn’t. I was nervous,” Blue Ridge’s sophomore starting pitcher said. “I was a wreck, really.”
After he gave up a single to leadoff the game, he said it got worse.

It didn’t show, however.

Decker tossed a complete-game, two-hit shutout and Blue Ridge beat Forest City, 2-0, to claim the District 2 Class A championship at PNC Field.

It’s Blue Ridge’s first district title since 2006. The team lost to MMI Prep in last year’s district final.

“We feel pumped,” Decker said. “We’re really — we’re excited.”

Decker struck out seven and walked one, but insisted he didn’t feel right at the start.

“I don’t think (the nervousness) is normal,” he said. “I usually come into a game very confident, and this is the first game I’ve been nervous.”

Eventually, he settled into the game.

“Just keeping my composure,” Decker said. “Just pitching my game. Just playing baseball.”

But the righty faced only 23 batters Monday, two more than the minimum. He retired 10 consecutive hitters from the last out of the first inning through the fourth, and 19 of the final 21.

“He just didn’t have a feel for the curveball until the sixth inning,” Blue Ridge coach Billy Marvin said. “The thing with Jake is he gets stronger as he goes. I knew if he found his curveball, that one run was enough.”

Blue Ridge got Decker his first run in the fourth inniing. Derek Stento led off with a single — one of his three hits on the day — and moved to third when Decker reached on a two-base error. Trey Hillard walked to load the bases and, with one out, Evan Aldrich drove in a run with a fielder’s choice.

“To get that run in was pretty much the whole game,” Aldrich said. “I mean, we knew it’d be a close scoring game.”

The Raiders added a run the following inning. With one out, Nick Swaha hit a dribbler to third. But the throw to first base sailed down the right-field line, and Swaha hustled into third on the error. With two outs, Stento singled him home to give Blue Ridge a 2-0 lead.

“We wanted to get this last year, but couldn’t get it done,” Stento said. “So, our goal this year was to be district champs.”

Blue Ridge will play the District 4 champion in the first round of the PIAA playoffs, which begin June 1.

“It kind of hasn’t all set in yet,” Hillard said. “I don’t think it will until tonight. But it feels amazing. I don’t think I’ve let go of this plaque yet, if that shows a sense of how I feel.”

Forest City got 2⅔ innings of scoreless relief from Jon DeEsch, and Mitchell Blake got the other hit against Decker in the seventh inning.

“(Our team’s) pitching really was good. They kept fighting back,” Forest City coach Bill O’Dell said. “They’re a good team. That pitcher, he’s dominating, he did a great job.”