During Lakeridge baseball’s 4-0 win over Clackamas on Thursday, April 4, junior pitcher Lukas McLeroy was in a groove.
Ultimately, the left-hander carved the Cavaliers up on his way to a no-hitter, celebrated by his teammates via an infield scrum.
And while McLeroy will deservedly receive plenty of credit for the win over a Clackamas team that was 6-2 entering Thursday, the junior was quick to point to the defense behind him as well.
“I had perfect defense. No errors,” McLeroy said. “I’ve never felt more confident pitching than I do with this defense.”
McLeroy believes pitchers may get too much credit for no-hitters and perfect games. Sure, the position is important, but it’s only one of nine after all.
“We just kind of do everything,” McLeroy said. “There’s nothing we really lack in. We were putting up runs, too, scoring inning after inning, putting pressure on them, and we were just really cohesive.”
According to the junior, it was a perfect blend of pitching, defense and hitting that led to a near flawless performance against the Cavaliers, not one or the other.
Naturally, head coach Ray Pearson agreed, but his analysis wasn’t limited to Thursday. He believes his group’s well-roundedness will lead the charge all season.
“We feel like we have a good, strong crop of young kids who not only play good defense, but we’ve got decent speed and we can also hit the ball pretty well when we’re locked in,” Pearson said. “So we’re pretty excited about that.”
Still, while the Pacers possess several playmakers this spring, none were more apparent than McLeroy against Clackamas.
The junior finished the game with X strikeouts in comparison to just X walks, placing a Cavaliers team that’s scored double-digit runs on three occasions this season into a world of hurt.
Naturally, after listening to McLeroy deflect to his teammates, Pearson was ready to give credit where credit is due.
“I think he just kept the ball down and hit his spots,” Pearson said. “He’s probably the first pitcher this year that really had that control and hit his spots, so I’m super proud of him. He’s been playing with me since he was in eighth grade. I love the kid and he’s only a junior.”
So far, the pitching preeminence of McLeroy has helped the Pacers to a solid start to the season.
Despite losing several key pieces from a star-studded lineup last year, Lakeridge is 6-5 this spring after a recent 10-8 loss to top-ranked Sprague.
“Obviously we lost our starter to the Detroit Tigers, and then the number two went to Gonzaga, so what we’re doing is really picking a game at a time and trying to get better each day,” Pearson said. “I think we have an incredible group of kids that are super close, and they’re starting to listen a little bit.”
Paul Wilson, currently playing for the Detroit Tigers-affiliated Florida Complex League Tigers, Erik Hoffberg, a current Gonzaga Bulldog, and Dawson Santana, a member of the Oregon State Beavers, all graduated from the Lakeridge program in 2023.
Nonetheless, against a brutal nonleague schedule that included four out-of-state opponents, this season’s young Pacers fared well, pushing the title-hungry Olympians to the brink of their first defeat on Saturday.
“Obviously we’d like to have the type of quality of play that we were getting from the guys that graduated, but I think we’re starting to really lock it in,” Pearson said. “For our pitchers, it’s taken a few weeks to figure out who’s going to be where, who’s going to back-up who, but we’re really happy with what we have.”
Now, a similarly-daunting Three Rivers League schedule looms, but according to Pearson, the Pacers and their well-roundedness will be ready.
“We have, I think, one of the best defenses out there going,” Pearson said. “So we just gotta be consistent at the plate and throw strikes.”
Lakeridge will be in action again next Tuesday, April 9, as it hosts Tualatin in the first league game of the season for both teams. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m.
Most Popular
Comments / 0