Holland Stymies Tobs over Eight Strong Innings
July 7, 2014 - Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Morehead City Marlins News Release
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C.- Right-hander John Holland tossed a season and team-high eight innings on Monday as the Marlins cruised to their fifth straight win with an 8-1 victory over the Wilson Tobs.
Holland allowed just one run on four hits and struck out a season-high nine batters in his second start for Morehead City. He allowed three of those four hits in his second inning of work, but other than that surrendered just one hit and walked one for the remainder of his outing. Following the base hit he allowed to Seth LaRue with one out in the fourth, Holland retired 13 straight before walking Adam Pate with two gone in the eighth. Over that span he struck out five, including three strikeouts in the sixth inning.
"I was just really locked in," Holland said. "I was able to locate my fastball in and out and that helped my changeup and slider. I was able to throw them for strikes, and also as a strikeout pitch."
"If you can throw your fastball for strikes, first of all you are getting ahead in the count, and second it makes everything else better," said pitching coach Aaron Meade. "It was fun to watch."
Holland was making his first appearance since June 23, when he tossed six innings of two-run ball against Wilmington. Despite having not pitched at all in a game in two weeks, he came out attacking hitters on Monday.
"It was by far the best start we have had all year," Meade said. "He was outstanding. When you get an outing like that, that is what makes coaching easy. The guy competed and threw his tail off tonight, and it was awesome. He had a couple weeks off, and he was great coming back in there. A lot of times guys come back a little rusty, but I went up to him after that first inning and said that was the best inning we have had all year from a pitcher. The guy didn't miss a spot. He battled and we needed that."
Holland got no shortage of help from his offense, which gave him a 4-0 lead to work with after just one inning. All four runs came on one swing of the bat from Luke Tewes. A couple of errors and a single from Nick Lombardi loaded the bases for Tewes in the first against Wilson's starter John Valek. Tewes, who led Drury University in 2014 with seven home runs and 62 RBI, smashed his first homer of the season for the Marlins in grand fashion. His grand slam to left-center was the second slam of the season for Morehead City.
"He threw me a slider to start out the count and he got behind, so then I was just looking fastballs all the way, Tewes said. "I got on a fastball and luckily I was able to put my barrel on it and hit it out."
The Marlins have now scored 11 first-inning runs in the last three games. In the first and second innings this season, they have scored 61 runs - 42 percent of all the runs they have scored this whole season.
"It's very important [to score early] because through our first half, through our losses, that is what we were fighting all the time," Tewes said. "We would get ourselves in a hole and would have to try to fight and dig out of it. When we can do that to other teams, it gives us an advantage."
"A grand slam is a huge deficit for the other team and as a pitcher you have to build off that and throw shutout innings," Holland said. With a big lead like that you just have to pound the zone."
Holland would get more run support as the game progressed. Kyle Carroll continued to swing a hot bat, plating two with a triple in the third, and Eduardo Castro lifted off on his second home run of the season in the eighth, a two run shot to left. Castro now has 10 RBI and is tied for second on the team with two homers, despite having only played in 10 games.
"We have really liked his approach throughout," said head coach Sam Carel. "He just has a clue what he is doing both behind the plate and with the bat."
The two runs in the fourth drove Valek from the game and eventually handed him his first loss of the season. He came in with a 2.62 ERA and 4-0 record.
"We stayed sharp throughout," Carel said. "When you can do that, it [makes for] a pretty well played game."
The contest was finished up by Chris Good, who had not pitched since allowing four runs in 1.1 innings in his start on June 26 against Edenton. Good allowed a couple of base runners, but worked a clean inning to hand the Tobs the 8-1 loss.
"It was great for Chris," Meade said. We have been working on some stuff, so it was great for him to get back in there."
The Marlins remain atop the CPL East in the second half with a 4-0 record, and they will try to make it 5-0 against Peninsula on Tuesday evening at War Memorial Stadium. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
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