Joshua Tedeschi shut out Santa Barbara for his first win of the season. (Photos by Darice Yee)
Joshua Tedeschi was as good as advertised.
When driving into the parking lot at Dos Pueblos High for Tuesday’s first-place Channel League baseball showdown between the Chargers and Santa Barbara High, one couldn’t help notice a red pick-up truck with the following written on the back window: “The best pitcher in the Goodland.” It was signed by the “No. 1 fan of No 7.”
The left-handed Tedeschi was the best pitcher on this day. He hurled a brilliant game, striking out 13, walking one and allowing three hits in a 1-0 shutout at Scott O’Leary Field on Tuesday.
It was the senior’s first win of the season against two defeats.
“I was off to kind of a slow start this year, ERA has been up and lot of walks,” Tedeschi said. “But today I was able to have really good command of my fastball, and we really needed this win against Santa Barbara, so now we’re 2-0 against them.”
Tedeschi said he felt strong the whole game.
“In previous games, I was getting fatigued in the later innings but today I was able to keep the fastball at a decent speed and was able to hit the corners, and I had a few strikeouts, so that was good,” he said.
Quinn Peacock scores the winning run for Dos Pueblos on hit by Daniel Buratto.
Tedeschi outdueled Santa Barbara sophomore Kevin Gowdy, who gave up six hits and struck out five in a complete-game effort. Gowdy allowed only one base runner in the last three innings and he was erased by a double play.
Both pitchers had a phenomenal day on the mound,” DP coach Nick Katzenstein said. “Joshua just got the upper hand, and we were able to put together a single and a sacrifice and another single to get the one run across, and that’s all it took.”
Santa Barbara coach Fred Warrecker gave props to the DP pitcher.
“It was just an outstanding job by Tedeschi,” he said. “He shoved it on us. We struck out 13 times, and he walked one. For our guys, Kevin pitched great. He was getting stronger as the game went on.”
The Chargers (9-9, 4-1 in Channel League) got to Gowdy for the only run of the game in the third inning. Quinn Peacock singled to left, went to second on a sacrifice by Dustin Demeter and scored on a hard-hit single to left-center by Daniel Buratto.
That was all Tedeschi would need as he baffled Santa Barbara’s hitters with a mix of fastballs and curveballs. He sent a message in the first inning that he was going to be tough to hit against as he fanned the first three hitters looking at strike three.
Santa Barbara (11-5, 3-2) put pressure on him in the sixth inning. With two outs, Skyler Sabado reached base on a bunt, stole second and went to third on a single to left-center by Gabe Grandcolas, who advanced to second on a delayed steal. But Tedeschi kept his poise and got the next batter to strike out on a ball in the dirt.
“It’s a tough one; we just didn’t threaten offensively,” said Warrecker.
DP, meanwhile, did what was necessary to get the important league win.
“We really did put everything together today,” Katzenstein said. “We played defense, we were able to hit the ball a little big and we pitched. Good things happen when you can pitch and play defense. And that’s what happened today.”
