MUSKEGON TWP. - Jaxson Whitaker is pitching like a guy who still wants something more out of his amazing high school sports career.
Nobody would have been too shocked if Whitaker, at this point, was starting to turn his thoughts more toward graduation and his upcoming basketball career at Ferris State University.
After all, he’s done just about everything an athlete can do in high school, including setting the all-time scoring mark for the Reeths-Puffer boys basketball team.
But Whitaker still has one more prep season go to, playing his fourth year with the R-P baseball team, and he wants to go out with a lot of wins and perhaps a few trophies.
R-P's Jaxson Whitaker pitches to a Mona Shores batter. Photo/Joe Lane
He gave the Rockets an early push in that direction on Wednesday afternoon, pitching a complete-game five-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and one walk to lead the Rockets to an exciting 2-0 victory over rival Mona Shores in O-K Green conference action.
The victory allowed R-P (3-1 overall, 2-1 conference) to take two of three games from Mona Shores this week, after splitting a doubleheader with the Sailors on Tuesday.
That's big for the Rockets, who lost all three matchups with the Sailors last season.
“Obviously I’ve played baseball here for four years, this is probably my last year playing baseball, so I want to make this season memorable,” Whitaker said after the game.
“I want to go as far as we can this year as a group. We won districts twice, when I was a freshman and a sophomore, and hopefully we can do it again this year.”
R-P's Holden Earnest guns down a runner from his shortstop position. Photo/Joe Lane
R-P head coach Butch Attig gave a lot of credit to junior catcher Quinn Alderink for the way he worked with Whitaker on Wednesday, and how he’s continuing to develop chemistry with all of the pitchers - but also said Whitaker pitched great.
“Jaxson pitched an outstanding game,” Attig said. “As he kept going through the game, he kept getting stronger.”
Attig was certainly correct about that. It was very obvious in the seventh and final inning, when Mona Shores came to the plate hoping to scrape up at least two runs against what they hoped would be a tiring Whitaker, but quickly went down with three straight strikeouts to end the game.
Whitaker’s strong pitching, and the sold defense behind him (no errors and one double play) allowed R-P to steal the victory with little in the way of sustained offense. They managed six hits, but their two runs came via small ball.
R-P's Cade Paugh hustles down the base line. Photo/Joe Lane
Alderink drew a bases-loaded walk in the second inning to give the Rockets a 1-0 lead that held up until the fifth.
That’s when R-P’s Lukas Johnson led off with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Holden Earnest followed with a single to center field and Johnson advanced to third.
R-P then earned its second run when Earnest broke early for second base, drew a throw from the pitcher and was safe, allowing Johnson to score from third.
Earnest, playing shortstop, also came up big defensively in the sixth inning, when the Mona Shores leadoff batter singled. He snagged a line drive hit by the next batter and smoked the ball to first to double off the runner. The next Sailor batter grounded to third and the threat was over.
“He played exceptionally well at shortstop,” Attig said about Earnest. “He’s the energizer bunny of the team. He’s just that boisterous guy, and I am really proud of his growth.”
R-P's Ethan Frang gets ready to catch a popup. Photo/Joe Lane
Johnson, Whitaker, Caiden Theisen and Ethan Frang all finished with one hit for R-P.
While the Rockets are thrilled to get two wins against Mona Shores, Attig noted that there’s a lot more work to do if the team wants to compete for a conference title.
“Taking two of three from Shores keeps us right in the conference, but we can’t look past anyone,” he said. ‘We have to play three against Holland next week, then we have to take care of the rest of the teams that we have to take care of, with (Zeeland) East and West at the end of the year.
"But if we continue to grow, I think we can be right there."