As Battlefield and OP clash for first place, Stonewall holds steady third
By Dan Roem
“Right now, I feel like we're in a pretty good spot.”
Stonewall Jackson catcher Tyler Jewett did not have much to complain about Tuesday afternoon despite his team's scheduled home game against Osbourn Park being rained out.
While Battlefield and OP duke it out for first place in the Cedar Run District, the Raiders (6-4 overall, 3-2 district) are perched in third place.
For the coaches and players alike, that suits them just fine.
“He tells us every day, 'We have all these juniors and seniors. So there should never be a day when we're out of it,'” said assistant coach Justin Smith, referring to Jewett.
While Battlefield clearly has the best pitching in the league and OP is certainly well-rounded, SJHS is as good as any of the other five teams.
Only once in 10 games has Stonewall not led at some point. The team is averaging over seven runs per outing. Starting pitcher JayJay Zehring is undefeated at 3-0 and Josh Cesario's (1-3) ERA is still under the 3.00 mark.
While Zehring and Cesario are not the fastest pitchers in the Cedar Run District, they do have something many high school hurlers envy: pitch selection.
Zehring's catalog features a cutter, slider, curve, change up and fastball, all of which can find their way over the plate for consistent strikes.
Cesario has the same, minus the cutter.
Describing Zehring as a “big” but not “huge” kid, Smith noted his pitcher can deliver in the clutch from the mound and the plate. The junior started off Stonewall on the right foot, at least temporarily, against OP by smacking an RBI in the first inning. In a win against Osbourn, Zehring racked up another RBI that helped the Raiders secure a victory.
Jewett called Cesario a “mental” pitcher who prefers a slow-tempo game that he can control.
“If he falls behind a batter, I'll go out and talk to him and just let him know... 'I'm giving you time,'” said the catcher. “'Get your head back in it.'”
When Charles “Buddy” Fields comes in to close games out in the late innings, he brings a different approach to the mound.
“I know Buddy likes to be in a quick rhythm, so I try to get the ball back to him as quick as possible,” said Jewett.
“I usually come in facing the best hitters in their line up, so basically, I just try to throw the fastball and try to overpower them,” commented Fields.
Fields does not try to intimidate his opponents either.
“I just let the fastball do the talking,” he said.
At the plate, Fields helps out even more with an on-base percentage near .700, according to Smith.
Once he gets on base, Fields tends to not stay put either. With a 60-yard-dash time of 6.8 seconds, he has racked up six stolen bases in the first 10 games of the season.
Those type of numbers impressed Mount Saint Mary's University enough to offer Fields the chance to play Division I-A ball as a center-fielder at the collegiate level.
“His athletic ability is the best I've ever seen,” said Smith, now in his second year as a member of the Stonewall squad.
Jewett said there is an additional benefit to hitters like himself when Fields is on base.
“Well, really, it's his speed threat that helps me out a lot because I know that if I see a curve ball, he'll take the base and get in scoring position for the RBI or I can sit on (a) fastball because of his speed,” said Jewlett, the team's three-hole hitter.
Jewett has delivered too as he leads the team in RBIs. Both he and Fields are batting over .400 this season
The Stonewall line-up is stacked this year with an all-upperclassmen roster featuring nine juniors and five seniors.
“It's not a sprint, it's a marathon,” noted Smith, later adding, “We need to hit our stride when it counts.”
For Stonewall, that would be the playoffs. Smith left the impression that his team does not realistically expect to top either the Bobcats or Yellow Jackets in the standings at the end of the year, but come tournament time, anything can happen.
After all, it was a .500 Stonewall team in 2003 that made it all the way to the Group AAA Virginia state championship once it found its groove in the playoffs.