Chase County freshman pitcher Shawn Talkington has done all he can to try and not think about the 2-1A State baseball tournament, which starts today at the Trusler Sports Complex.
He’s been putting in extra hours at work to help take his mind off today’s 4 p.m. game against St. Marys, a game in which he will take the mound as the starting pitcher for the Bulldogs.
It’s been hard though. He works at a baseball field.
“I’ve been working and trying to keep myself busy so I don’t think about it quite as much,” Talkington said, “but working at a baseball field, it’s kind of always on your mind.”
Talkington will be called upon to get things started for the second-seeded Bulldogs (16-2), who have aspirations of winning a State title after spending the majority of the season atop the state rankings.
Any reservations about starting a freshman in the first game of the State tournament are quickly quelled when one looks at Talkington’s stats this season. He is 5-0 in five starts this year with a 1.48 ERA in 33 innings of work. He has given up just 14 hits, struck out 53 of 107 batters and walked just 17.
Concerns about starting a freshman pitcher? Not for Chase County.
“He’s pitched in three State championship games in summer ball already. He’s pitched in State tournaments every year since he was 9 years old,” Chase County coach Jay Talkington said. “He’s played a lot of ball, and I don’t think he’ll be overwhelmed. He tends to step up in the big games. He’s given us some good performances.”
Perhaps its a good thing Shawn will be the starter today against seventh-seeded St. Marys (14-5), as the last time the two teams met — in last year’s State tournament — St. Marys sent Chase County home with a first-round 7-3 loss.
Shawn was at that game, and he said he knew what it would mean to the guys who suffered through that loss to exact a little revenge.
“We’re pretty excited about facing them again. We talk about it a lot,” Shawn said. “After last year, we’re kind of looking to get them back.”
Chase County certainly appears to have the necessary tools to do just that.
Aside from Shawn’s unblemished record on the mound this season, the Bulldogs have five other pitchers with a combined win-loss record of 10-2. The staff ERA is a measly 2.33, and the Bulldogs have surrendered just one home run all season.
“Pitching will be key,” Coach Talkington said. “We have to come out and throw strikes, and we’re very capable of that. We don’t have anybody that’s going to throw 90 miles an hour. We have a couple of guys that are going to throw 80 miles an hour and try to move the ball around and change speeds.
“We’ve got six guys that I’m confident we could put out there at any time and get the job done.”
The Bulldogs complement their pitching prowess with an offensive built around getting hits and running the bases well.
Brian Palermo leads the Bulldogs at the plate with an eye-popping .538 batting average, which includes nine doubles, five triples, two homers and 24 RBI. The Bulldogs don’t rely heavily on power hitting, as Adam Spain leads the team in home runs with four.
Chase County as a team is hitting .377, with six players — including Palermo — hitting better than .350.
“We don’t have anybody that is going to be an easy out or that the other team could say they could slack off against that guy,” coach Talkington said. “We want to get 10 or 12 hits a game and hit four doubles and run the bases well and take advantage of what the other team gives us. That’s what we’ve done all year.”
In St. Marys, the Bulldogs will see a radically different team than the one they faced last year, as the Bears return just four players off last season’s squad. But, coach Talkington said “they have five guys at the top of their lineup that are very effective. We’ve got to hope that if they hit the ball on the nose that they hit it at somebody.”
One thing is for sure, though, and it’s that the Bulldogs won’t be satisfied to just show up at the State tournament this year.
“This year, because we went last year, it’s not as new. We’re not freaking out about it like we were last year,” Shawn Talkington said. “Winning a State title is very high up on the list. If we play good defense, keep hitting the way we have been and pitch like we have all year, we should be right in it.”