Mainland’s Hickman controls first game, OCHS’s Pahang controls second
OCEAN CITY – All eyes were on the pitching mound for the two-game baseball series between Mainland Regional High School and Ocean City High School.
With the full assortment of pitchers available for both sides, it was Mainland’s Will Hickman who stole the show in game one and led the Mustangs to a 2-0 victory on April 7. Hickman pitched masterfully against the rival Red Raiders on the road with a complete game shutout. He did not give opposing batters a chance.
The senior allowed only three base-runners in the entire game and seemed to get stronger as the game went into deeper innings. He retired the last six consecutive Raider batters and struck out the last four.
Asked about his performance late in the game, Hickman said, “I felt really good about my fastball and was getting a lot of outs with it and as the game went on, I started mixing in my curveball. They were having problems with my fastball so once I was breaking that curveball off it was game over.”
Hickman finished with nine strikeouts in his third start of the season and with the win over Ocean City, pitched back-to-back complete game shutouts for the Mustangs.
After pitching five innings, Hickman had to decide if he wanted to go for another complete game.
“One of my coaches took me off the field after the fifth inning and asked, ‘do you want this thing or not?’ I sat on the bench and really thought about it and worked hard to get it done.”
“He is in the zone with multiple pitches and he is our leader on the mound right now,” Mainland head coach Billy Kern said. “I think the biggest thing for him today was in those moments where the count was 2-0, or 3-0, he was able to refocus and just throw the next pitch. That is three straight weeks of great performances and we have no reason to believe he cannot do that every time out.”
While Hickman was holding down his end of the bargain, Kameron Street made sure to keep the Mustangs’ offense in check. Street made his second start this season for Ocean City and racked up 10 strikeouts in five innings. His aggressive pitching left him vulnerable to allowing men on base, but worked his way out of it at first.
He struck out five Mustangs while there were runners in scoring position to limit the damage to two earned runs.
Colton Donahue managed to get the first Mustang run past Street in the first inning after his sacrifice fly was just deep enough in the outfield to bring home leadoff hitter Jake Blum from third base. Donahue later in the fifth inning got a great lead off second base and managed to score off a single from Bradley Delaney.
“I thought we did a great job running the bases today and thought we had enough people in scoring position to score more than two runs, but credit to Kam, every time we got him in trouble he pitched his way out of it,” Kern said.
Game 2: Pahang up
Game two was much smoother for the Raiders as they gave plenty of run support to starting pitcher Preston Pahang.
Pahang matched Street’s strikeout total from the prior game with 10 and rode a strong game from his offense to beat Mainland 6-2 on April 8. As a freshman, Pahang pitched against Mainland twice as a reliever but made the most of his chance to start this season.
He gave up two runs early, thanks in part to Blum, who got on base safely three times, which brought the score to 2-2. Despite the traffic caused by his six walks, he got the timely outs he needed to stay in the game.
Kyle Williams helped break the tie ball game with two RBI off two hits and contributed to a late Raider scoring spree.
An insurance run was scored in the fifth inning to give Pahang some breathing room but Williams and the Raiders managed a three-run sixth inning to fully pull away from the Mustangs. Senior Josh Pashley added two RBI and scored a run himself off an RBI from Cody Schweim.
Josh Lenko cleaned up the final two innings for Pahang without allowing a run and struck out four batters. He also helped his own cause with a double that brought home one last run for the final score of 6-2.
The next games for the Mustangs will be at home against starting on April 15 against St. Joseph Academy. Two days later, Mainland will host Absegami on April 17. Both games are set for 4 p.m. with Hickman’s next start likely against St. Joseph. Ocean City has a lighter schedule for the week after starting off with a two-game series against Millville on April 13 and 14. The Raiders will wrap the week up with a game on the road at Egg Harbor Township High School on April 16. Game time is 4 p.m.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
