Sometimes it helps to know the obstacle you”re going to face so you can have the right mind-set.
After throwing three innings Saturday night against New Hope, Zachary (La.) Dizzy Dean baseball coach Sam Adams removed starting pitcher Evan Tidwell to make sure he was prepared to take to the mound again if the team advanced to the title game of the Dizzy Dean tournament.
A victory against Kosciusko in the semifinals Sunday sewed up a return engagement for Tidwell, and the rising junior made the most of the opportunity, pitching a complete game to lead Zachary (La.) to a 3-0 victory against Caledonia in the championship game at Columbus High School.
Tidwell, a lanky right-hander, allowed four of his six hits in the first two innings en route to the victory. He struck out seven, walked none, and hit a batter.
“(Coach Adams) told me to get some rest and you”re going to pitch the championship game, and I plan on you throwing the whole thing,” Tidwell said. “I got it in my mind and I came out here and did it today.”
Tidwell was primarily a starting pitcher this season for the Zachary (La.) High baseball team. On Sunday, he didn”t allow an extra-base hit and worked out of trouble in each of the first three innings when Caledonia put a runner in scoring position. But Tidwell worked out of the jams by locating his pitches, going inside effectively, and keeping hitters off balance with his curveball.
Tidwell also shook off the effects of a nagging muscle pull in his gluteus maximus/hip he suffered lifting weights. He said the quick turnaround didn”t bother him thanks to a pitching program he and the rest of his high school teammates use.
“I told (coach Adams), ”My arm is feeling good and my mind is right, and I am ready to throw the championship game,” Tidwell said. “My glute was still a little sore, but I told him I would be able to pitch through it.”
Tidwell, a 6-foot-4, 160-pounder, said it was added incentive for him to do the job to ensure Adams won in his return to the area. Adams stepped down as head coach of the Caledonia High baseball program in February 2010 to take a teaching job at Zachary Elementary School in Zachary, La. The decision allowed him to reunite with his wife, who had relocated to take another job, and his three children.
Adams, a 1992 graduate of New Hope High, was baseball coach at Pickens County High in Reform, Ala., from 1998-2000, at Pickens Academy in Carrollton, Ala., from 2000-03, and at Caledonia High from 2004-2009.
“He did well,” said Adams, an assistant coach on the Zachary (La.) High”s varsity baseball team. “He knew we were down to him and maybe one more arm, and we”re glad he stepped up.”
Zachary (La.) used six pitchers before it went to Tidwell. Kaleb Shober and Travis Cliburn combined on the mound to help Zachary (La.) Beat Kosciusko 10-2 in its first game of the day. Adams said the team had at least one more pitcher to go to Sunday night if Tidwell encountered big problems.
“You have to have deep pitching in a tournament,” Adams said. “If you have some guys and some arms you can go pretty deep. That is the whole key, trying to do it right and manage it right.”
Zachary (La.) went hitless through the first four innings against starting pitcher Cody Allsup, who only threw two innings, and Zach Cox, who went the next three. It didn”t have as explosive an offensive showing as it did Saturday when it scored 21 runs in victories against Neshoba Central (15 runs) and New Hope, but it did enough to capture the trophy.
In the fifth, Johnny Mangin blooped a double down the left-field line, went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Joe Pierce, and scored on a fielder”s choice by Kyle Vince. The play at the plate might have been closer if catcher Jeremy Reed-Wood didn”t take a first step toward first base in an effort to help back up that throw. Reed-Wood tried to get back to cover home, but Mangin was a step quicker.
After the play, Mangin was ejected for raising his arms and making contact with Reed-Wood.
Cox worked out of a bases-loaded jam later in the inning by getting Daniel Hodges to pop out.
Zachary (La.) added insurance runs in the sixth thanks to an error on a comebacker to pitcher Jake Stewart, an RBI double by Mason Foote, and an RBI single by Pierce.
Tidwell hit a batter in the seventh for one of his few blemishes on the day, but he retired Luke Eads and Caleb Brown on flyballs to cap a focused effort.
“During the season, you have hard games and you come in as a sophomore in tough situations and you have to zone out everything and pitch to your catcher and trust he is going to call the right thing,” Tidwell said. “One thing is not going to hit you. If they get a hit here or there, you have to trust your offense to come up (and score runs). You have to keep a level head and not get too caught up in the game and be able to zone in on everything and focus on your catcher and play a little catch.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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