East Clarendon's Coker spins gem on way to Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week

The stakes were high last week when the East Clarendon baseball team faced Johnsonville for a home-and-away series just before spring break.

Both games were paramount for the Wolverines, as Johnsonville stood as EC's top threat for the region title. East Clarendon wanted to go into spring break with some momentum, so they sent their ace to the mound for Game 1 on Monday.

Caleb Coker took care of the rest.

The senior allowed a hit to his first batter but picked the runner off two batters later. It was one of only two hits Coker allowed all night, as he mowed through the Flashes in a 6-0 victory. On top of the region win, the performance also earned Coker recognition as the Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week.

"That's just what they do. They do it for everybody," Coker said of the support he receives from the Wolverine faithful. "It's one of a kind."

Every coach needs an ace to give the ball to on the biggest stage. For EC head coach Curtis Johnson, that's Coker, who already has five wins on the season for the 11-5 Wolverines.

"We kinda had Johnsonville circled all year as the team we needed to beat in order to have a chance to win our region, them and Carvers Bay. You run your best out in the first game, and he went out there and they got a leadoff single, he picked them off, and then they didn't have a chance after that," Johnson said. "He definitely set the tone. He struck out 12 guys, and I don't think there was one ball hit hard off him all night. He kept the ball off the barrel, kept them off balance.

"What Caleb does every time he goes out there is he competes his tail off, and he just said, 'I'm gonna be the better guy,' and he was."

Coker knew the stakes of the game, but he also knew the Wolverines were more than ready to handle the situation.

"We just had to go in and do what we always do," Coker said. "We've been playing tougher opponents to get us ready for the playoffs, and that was just one of them we had to take down to be there."

The EC senior knew by the end of the first inning that he was locked in for an electric performance. He finished the frame by striking out Landyn Cribb, the three-hole hitter for the Flashes. He then opened the second with a strikeout of Braxton DeCamp. In six at bats against the heart of the Johnsonville lineup, Coker got six strikeouts.

"After I struck him out, it was over with pretty much," Coker said. "He's one of the best hitters on the team, and I struck him out three times that night.

"Everything was just going my way that night. Everything was working."

Johnson saw that Coker was able to command all three of his pitches in the victory. When the senior is cruising like that, he's hard to beat.

"He had plus stuff that night. He was just able to throw his breaking ball in and out and his fastball in and out," Johnson said. "His changeup was a distance third pitch that night, but he was really able to get after guys with his fastball and breaking ball. And their two best hitters, he mixed in the changeup.

"When you have three pitches going, it's hard to hit. When you throw two for a strike pretty much whenever you want, guys go to the plate guessing. He was able to keep them off balance, and he had enough juice on his fastball to throw it by some guys."

Coker also had the benefit of pitching with a lead for most of the night. East Clarendon scored two runs in each of the first two innings, which meant he didn't have the pressure of needing to be perfect all night long.

"We've pitched well all year, but we've had to be close to being perfect all year because we haven't swung the bats really well until recently," Johnson said. "We went out and got a lot of hits, and when we scored two in the bottom of the first, you felt like the game was over because he was so good."

The senior was extremely efficient in the victory, needing just 81 pitches to throw a complete game. While Coker tends to keep his pitch count down, he also struck out 12 batters. That naturally raises a pitcher's count because it triples the minimum number of pitches required to get an out.

"Caleb really pitches to contact, so that strikeout number was really elevated for him. Normally, you look up in the fifth inning, and he's thrown 40 pitches and gotten everybody out. His strikeouts were elevated, but he was able to keep guys off the barrel and get some quick outs to keep that pitch count down."

Coker credits his defense for making his job easier when the Flashes were able to put the ball in play.

"That defense was on point; we played two games with no errors," Coker said. "You couldn't mess with them."

For Coker, this is only the beginning. With two big region wins under their belts, the Wolverines hope to finish the regular season strong before taking care of business in the postseason.

"That was a good two games for us. We asked our coaches, and none of them could remember the last time we swept Johnsonville. That was huge," Coker said. "We've got to keep on doing what we're doing, win the big games, and hopefully we can go all the way. But there ain't no telling. We'll have to see where it takes us."