By KEVIN HARRIS
JEFFERSONVILLE – After competing in an intense pitchers’
duel with Austin’s Drew Buhr on Saturday at Don Poole Field, Jeffersonville
starter Jacob Cochrum came out smelling like a rose.
Cochrum pitched a two-hit shutout to lead the Red Devils to their
first victory of the season 1-0. The senior right-hander struck out 11 Eagles
and walked none. Cochrum retired the final nine batters he faced as he handed
Class 2A No. 4 Austin (6-1) its first loss of the season.
Cochrum did an efficient job of mixing his fastball, curve
and change-up to keep Austin hitters off-balance. The Eagles’ two hits were a
double by catcher Gavin Napier and a single by right fielder Peyton Hollan.
“Jacob does a really good job with all of his pitches,” Jeff
head coach Derek Ellis said. “He doesn’t throw it extremely hard. But his curveball
and his change-up are really, really good and he throws them for strikes
consistently. We’ve seen a lot of that out of Jacob over the years. We just
want to find a way to get him some more runs and a little more breathing room
instead of having him go out there and grind it out and work as hard as he’s
working.”
Despite earning his first loss of 2017, Buhr put on his own
solid performance on the hill.
The right-hander surrendered one earned run on three hits.
He posted seven strikeouts and issued three walks.
“He obviously pitched great in my opinion,” Ellis said. “He
was doing the things that he needed to do and his offense didn’t produce for
him. Really, it was going to come down to who was going to score first.”
The biggest mistake Buhr made was a solo home run to Jeff
second baseman Gabe Bierman over the left-field fence to lead off the bottom of
the second.
“You don’t expect Bierman to hit the ball out of the
ballpark,” Ellis said. “But he’s got some pop. When he hits it, he does hit it
hard.”
Red Devil shortstop Bailey Falkenstein was the only player
to have a multihit game, going 2-for-3 against Buhr. Both of Falkenstein’s hits
were singles.
Jeff tried to get something going on offense in both the
fourth and sixth innings. But in each of those frames, Napier threw out a Red
Devil trying to steal second base with one out.
“We didn’t make adjustments at Floyd Central (in a 5-1 loss
last Tuesday). We didn’t make adjustments in this game,” Ellis said. “They were
pounding (pitches) away, away, away from us and we kept the bats on our
shoulders instead of going ahead and trying to do something with that pitch. We
take it and we get into a hole and now we’re at the mercy of (Buhr’s)
curveball. The kid’s curveball was pretty good. He threw it in the dirt
consistently around the plate and you had to swing at it.
“We have to be better at the plate in making adjustments.
Right now, we’re just not a very good offensive team.”
Even though his team’s offense is not where he wants it to
be, Ellis was glad to get win No. 1 of the season.
“We’re very happy with the win,” Ellis said. “We would’ve
liked to play a little bit better. But like I told the guys on the mound after
the game, we’re not going to complain about it. We’re going to take it and we’re
going to run with it.”
Jeff (1-3) will host Seymour at 6 p.m. Thursday. Austin will
travel to Corydon Central at 6 p.m. Monday.
JEFFERSONVILLE 1,
AUSTIN 0
Austin 000 000 0-0 2 2
Jeff 010 000 x-1 3 1
W – Jacob Cochrum (1-0). L – Drew Buhr (2-1). 2B – Gavin
Napier (A). HR – Gabe Bierman (J).
Records – Jeff 1-3, Austin 6-1.
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