Taylor Chris might have just locked up the best pitching
performance in the history of Gilroy High baseball Saturday.
SAN JOSE – Taylor Chris might have just locked up the best pitching performance in the history of Gilroy High baseball Saturday.
Striking out 15 batters, walking none and allowing just three hits in a complete-game shutout of Pioneer, Chris was in the zone while doing little else than finding the strike zone for a 7-0 Mustangs victory.
Gilroy manager Clint Wheeler said he knew he was watching special at the time, which is why he didn’t try to do to much for fear of jinxing the junior hurler.
“He was just dominant up there,” Wheeler said. “He would fall behind a guy 3-0 and strike the guy out. He struck out the side three times.
“I just sat there and I was kind of in awe.”
Wheeler is going back through the record books to see if the mark of 15 strikeouts is a school record.
Chris had plenty of pressure to keep the game close, as the Mustangs scored two runs in the second inning but didn’t break the game open until the fifth, when they added five runs to help push their record to 12-10 on the season.
Playing three games over the course of spring break last week, Gilroy went 2-1 with a comeback win over Live Oak and an 8-2 loss at Leland on Thursday.
Wheeler said he has made several changes to his lineup in the last week due to disciplinary issues. Reserves Brandon Elam (first base) and Josh Carter (right field) responded well through additional time on the field Saturday, as they had two and three RBI, respectively. Jordan Dexter filled in at catcher.
“We played pretty well, so I don’t see a whole lot of reason to change too much,” Wheeler said. “Until everyone is working on the same level, I think that’s the team I’m going to go with for a while.”
The Mustangs host Alisal (3-16) at 4 p.m. today.
