Schulefand Tosses Pine Crest To Victory Over University

Following two tough losses, Pine Crest got back to its winning ways on Wednesday night against a formidable district foe. Backed by a Griffin Conine two-run home run, Jordan Schulefand tossed a complete-game shutout as the Panthers topped University School 3-0.

The theme on the night for Schulefand was pitching to contact and limiting pitches. After setting the tone with a ten-pitch frame in the first inning, he went on to toss almost exactly that on average for the night, ending the game at 74 offerings. Trusting his defense behind him, Schulefand induced nine flyouts and six groundouts. With his breaking pitches working for him and his fastball sitting in the mid-80’s, the sophomore remained perfect through three innings and held a no-hitter through four.

According to Schulefand, his outing went exactly according to plan.

“Before the game, our pitching coach told me to pitch to contact today because we wanted to limit my pitches and get me deep in the game,” Schulefand said. “That’s all I tried to do out there: just pitch to contact. I knew I had a no-hitter through four, but they broke it up. I gave up two hits after that but it could have been a lot more; my defense made some great plays. I have to give a lot of credit to them.”

Manager Wayne Stofsky attributed Schulefand’s success on the mound to his ability to get his breaking stuff over for strikes on a consistent basis. He also kept hitters off balance with a fastball that sneaked up on opposing hitters.

“Tonight, Jordan was affective because he was throwing his curveball for strikes,” Stofsky said. “He throws harder than people think. So when he is throwing his curveball for strikes, and the fastball is sneaky fast and he kind of has that short-armed delivery, it makes batters hard to pick up on his delivery.”

Schulefand also had a day at the plate. Before hitting a seventh-inning triple, he battled through a fabulous eight-pitch at bat with two outs in the fourth to work a walk in front of Conine. Conine then came through with his eighth home run of the season, a shot which moved him into sole possession of the Broward County lead over his teammate Zack Kone.

Playing in his first game in two weeks, Ravi Bakhai added an RBI single which knocked in an Aram Leighton for Pine Crest. Bakhai had three hits on the night, and also succeeded in the field where he made a spectacular play, ranging behind third base and making a strong-armed throw from the base line to rob a hit.

“This is the first game he’s played in four games because he went to Prauge to visit his sister, who is studying abroad,” Stofsky said. “I stuck him back in the lineup tonight and he got three hits and made a great play at third base. That’s just the kind of player he is.”

University starter Jesse Crosno kept pace with Schulefand most of the night. Getting ahead in the count early with a first-pitch strike to 20 of the 28 guys he faced, and tossing 60 of his 84 offerings for strikes, he made the Panthers earn every base they took. Much like Schulefand, Crosno’s defense also had his back for 21 outs.

“I was really proud of the way we came out and competed,” Suns Manager Dan Rovetto said. “Jesse threw well. He made the one mistake to Conine and he paid for it. That’s what happens when you play good teams is they make you pay for your mistakes. Overall though, he threw tremendous tonight and defensively we played the type of defense we are capable of playing, which allowed us to keep it a tight game.”

Following the Conine blast, Crosno was able to bounce right back with a strikeout to end the fourth inning. He went on to shut the Panthers’ high powered offense down for the rest of the game. Rovetto praised his starter’s ability to overcome adversity and stick to the blueprint of pitching to the Suns’ cavernous ballpark and using it to his advantage en route to a quality outing.

“Quality starts are what we look for,” Rovetto said. “We are able to limit some stuff with the style of pitching we use with Jesse when we expand our big ballpark. He did a good job of that tonight. He pitched off the off-speed well and mixed the fastball in where he needed to. Great work by him.”

The loss for the Suns comes in another game in which they were able to put some men on base against a tough opposing starter, but were not able to capitalize with the kind of clutch hitting that their opponent enjoyed. Rovetto chalks that fact up to an odd twist of fate and remains confident that if the the Suns continue to play the type of baseball they are capable of, the timely hits will eventually come and the wins will start piling up even more.

“Sometimes, the baseball gods are funky with you,” Rovetto said. “We just have to stay with our approach. We work our zone hitting and drills in practice daily. At some point those big hits are going to come for us. The games just have to be played. Eventually the ball is going to fall our way and when it does it will feel really good.”

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