Patriots’ reliever Rucker closes with three shutout inning, six strikeouts
Jack Rucker embraces his role as a multi-faceted relief pitcher who enters games in late-inning pressure situations.
That was the case the night of May 17 when the hard-throwing left-hander hurled the final three innings of hitless and shutout ball to help the host and top-seed Yorktown Patriots (16-5) nip the No. 2 seed McLean Highlanders, 1-0, in the championship game of the Liberty District high-school baseball tournament.
The victory was Yorktown’s seventh straight.
Rucker struck out six, including the last five batters he faced, walked two and threw 46 pitches to earn the save.
In his last four relief appearances, Rucker has thrown seven shutout innings. He has started some games this season, but not of late.
“Jack has done so well all season in those situations we have stayed with that for a while now,” Yorktown head coach Nick Meyers said.
In Yorktown’s 8-1 district-tourney-semifinal win over Herndon, Rucker tossed two perfect innings of relief with five strikeouts and a comebacker.
“I really like coming in games like this when it’s close. That’s been working well and I have that mentality,” said Rucker, who will play in college at James Madison University.
When not pitching, Rucker plays center field. He scored Yorktown’s lone run in the district final, coming in the first inning when he walked and eventually came home on Bryan Slattery’s RBI single. Slattery had two of Yorktown’s just three hits. Jack Rubin’s infield hit was the other in the pitcher’s duel.
Grayson McCarthy started and pitched two innings for Yorktown and Thomas Ogden worked the next two in relief.
“We have gone with that type of pitching setup and it works,” Meyers said. “We asked them to give all they can for a couple of innings.”
Defensively, Yorktown did not make an error.
“We pitched well and played clean baseball on defense,” Meyers said. “These players have taken everything so well in stride this season.”
Yorktown is 3-0 against McLean this spring, winning two regular-season contests.
Yorktown, which last won the tourament in 2021, had a first-round tournament bye this year.
In the win over Herndon, the Patriots trailed 1-0, then scored eight runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, helped by three hit batters, an intentional walk, a walk with the bases loaded and one error. Rubin had two hits in the inning for Yorktown, including a two-run single. Owen Woodward and Coby Casalengo had RBI groundouts and Isaac Hobbs walked with the bases loaded.
McLean also lost in last year’s district final.
“Our pitchers did a phenomenal job, but we didn’t get enough hits or get runners in scoring position,” McLean coach John Dowling said about this season’s district final.
Alex Gonzalez started and pitched three innings with five strikeouts for McLean and Jack Nance threw the final three. Ethan Ball doubled in the first inning for McLean (14-9) and Aydin Prell singled in the second.
McLean was 2-1 in this year’s tournament, defeating Washington-Liberty, 7-0, and Langley, 6-5, for its wins. The Highlanders last won the tournament in 2022.
NOTE: Thomas Koomey is the third family member to play for a Yorktown baseball team that has won Liberty tournament championships. His brother, Ben Koomey, helped Yorktown win in 2018 and brother, Thor, do the same 2021.
