Pitchers arm can deceive
Brad Freeman shouldn't scare anyone.
Cross Creek's Ben Lillis tags out Evans High School's Alex Sickman. Top-ranked Evans beat Cross Creek 7-0 on Tuesday with Brad Freeman on the mound for six innings.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
He isn't physically imposing. He doesn't throw exceptionally hard. He has even had arm trouble lately.
But on Tuesday, Freeman showed once again why he is considered one of the area's best pitchers.
Freeman tossed six innings of shut-out ball for the top-ranked Knights in a 7-0 win over visiting Cross Creek.
"(Freeman) pitched the best game I've ever seen him throw tonight," Evans third baseman Ken Raborn said. "He hit his spots and was very effective in mixing pitches. He had their hitters on their toes all night."
He also shut down Georgia-bound catcher Jon Egan, who will probably be drafted in the first five rounds of the Major League Draft in June. Egan struck out twice and managed just a single.
"I don't see him as any different than any hitter," Freeman said. "He's a great player, one of the best around. But I don't treat him any differently."
The Knights scored runs in each of the first three innings to jump to a 4-0 lead after RBI singles by Ryan Pressley and Kevin Millward in the first, Raborn in the second, and Hank McCladdie in the third.
McCladdie added insurance runs in the fifth on a two-run home run that sailed over the left-center field fence, giving Evans a 6-0 lead.
"I knew when I hit it that I got it pretty good," he said. "Pitching is what we pride ourselves on. But if we can hit the way we did tonight, then we can move closer to that goal of winning a state title."
Evans (3-0) added its final run in the sixth off a RBI double by Millward.
All of the runs scored were insurance for Freeman, whose 93-pitch, four-hit effort came in his first outing of the season.
"Freeman did a real good job mixing it up," Cross Creek coach Bob Pelowski said.
"He kept us off balance and pitched a very good game. That's a good team right there."
Freeman said he had been sore for much of the past week and was particularly sore after the game.
"My arm hurts," he said, "But I feel good about my performance."