In the opening round of the MIAA ‘A’ Conference playoffs, the JC baseball team topped the Archbishop Curley Friars, 9-0, in Bel Air. The Patriots advance to play the Archbishop Spalding Cavaliers on Tuesday at Severn.

The Patriots relied on a few key seniors to lead the contest from start to finish. UNC Asheville-committed Trent Shaw pitched a complete game shutout, surrendering only six hits and two walks, while striking out three. Shaw also drove in three runs, including a home run to straight away center which gave the Patriots the lead for good in the first inning.

KJ Hockaday, who is attending the University of Maryland next fall, provided some firepower to the middle of the JC lineup. In the sixth inning, Hockaday crushed a ball over the left field wall, giving the Patriots a 5-0 lead.  With this home run, Hockaday surpassed New York Yankee and former Mount Saint Joseph slugger Mark Teixeira for the most career home runs in MIAA ‘A’ Conference baseball history.

The game got off to a quick start in the bottom of the first inning. Chestnut Hill-committed and leadoff hitter Nick Naumann singled and was immediately driven in by Shaw’s two-run bomb. The Patriots then proceeded to load the bases, but could not capitalize, and left all three runners stranded.

In the second inning, Shaw helped his team again by turning a 1-4-3 double play, which killed the momentum Curley was beginning to build. In the fourth inning, senior Josh Brown picked off a runner stealing third base, once again killing the inning for the Friars.

In the fifth inning, JC loaded the bases yet again, but Curley starter Tyler Burton managed to pitch his way out of the jam. In the sixth inning, three consecutive singles by Curley’s Ricky Warble, Burton, and Zach Salkowski loaded the bases. The next batter then lined a ball to second, which senior Sean Nelson caught and proceeded to tag second base for the double play. The following batter grounded out, ending the threat.

The hitters for JC responded to the rally with their defense in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tim Ryan started the inning off with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Trent Shaw got his third RBI (run batted in) of the day with a single, giving JC a 3-0 lead. Hockaday then proceeded to home base, making it 5-0. Consecutive hits from Brendan Butler, Danny Snee, Josh Brown, Sean Nelson, and Tim Ryan scored another four runs, giving Shaw plenty of leeway with a 9-0 lead to protect in the seventh inning.

Shaw had no problem retiring the Friars and finished off his complete game shutout.  The win was a comprehensive performance by the Patriots, who will need to keep this solid form up if they hope to stop the red hot Spalding team.

“We all played as a team. For the first six innings we were only winning 2-0 and every person did something to keep it that way. Sean nelson made some great plays defensively in big situations and eventually KJ broke the game open with a two run homer in the sixth and the rest of the team followed, giving us the 9-0 win,” Shaw said.

Henry Shepard is a reporter for “The Patriot” and jcpatriot.com