Mahomes tosses no-hitter, outduels Kopech

Published 11:06 pm Tuesday, March 11, 2014

WHITEHOUSE — As Patrick Mahomes strode to the mound to begin his warm-up tosses for the seventh inning, Cake’s “He’s going the distance” blared on the loud speaker from the press box at Wildcat Field.

That is exactly what Mahomes did, overcoming two walks to get out of the inning with two strikeouts and complete a no-hitter in a 2-1 win for Whitehouse over Mount Pleasant on Tuesday afternoon.

“Coach came up to me (during the seventh) and said ‘You look tired, I don’t know if I am going to let you go,”‘ Mahomes said. “And I just said, ‘I got it. I can finish it off.'”

The last strikeout was Mahomes’ 16th to go along with four walks.

But the Texas Tech signee was only one half of this marquee matchup. The other was Mount Pleasant senior and Arizona signee Michael Kopech. Professional scouts lined the area behind home plate, going two or three rows deep — all with radar guns fixated on deliveries from two of the most talked about pitchers in the state of Texas.

And neither disappointed.

Mahomes got the no-hitter, but Kopech was equally dominant, allowing two unearned runs on two hits with 12 strikeouts.

“Me and Pat knew we had it coming into this game and he pitched a heck of a game,” Kopech said. “It was a battle and we both knew it was going to be a battle. And he’s a great hitter too, so I thought if anyone was going to get a hold of one, it was going to be him. And I wanted to get a hold of one of his too, but he beat me every at-bat today.

“He put up a fight for me and he came out on top today and I respect him a lot.”

In Mahomes’ three plate appearances the senior was 0 for 2 with a walk and two strikeouts. Kopech struck out in all three of his at-bats versus Mahomes.

Both pitchers were regularly reaching 90-plus miles per hour while mixing it up with enough off-speed pitches that left both teams’ high-powered offenses befuddled.

“We were so excited to see (Kopech); to see a kid that throws that hard is just going to make us better in the long run,” Whitehouse coach Derrick Jenkins said. “But there is no doubt in a big game (Mahomes) is going to step up and throw the way he did today. Never any doubt.

“He’s just a big-game guy. He’s a kid where you know when it’s on the line and someone is trying to best him, he’s going to take care of business.”

Whitehouse (13-0) stayed undefeated with another win later in the day against Princeton, 10-3. Mount Pleasant dropped to 8-6.

Mount Pleasant head coach Aaron Pearson said despite the loss it was a great game for neutrals with a playoff atmosphere.

“You don’t get this at many places in the nation where you have the two guys we had throwing today,” Pearson said. “You have 35-40 scouts in the stands and everybody got their money’s worth. It was a good game.”

Mahomes fanned the first six batters he faced, many of them on 3-2 counts. Meanwhile, the Wildcats scratched out a run in the bottom of the first. Mahomes reached on a lead-off error and courtesy runner Tanner Roach eventually came home to score on another error.

Mount Pleasant tied the game in the top of the third; using back-to-back walks to start the inning and push across a run on a wild pitch. Cullen Grubbs walked, went to second on a walk to Christian Moulton and both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Connor Gage.

The wild pitch brought home Grubbs on a close play at the plate. With a runner still at third, Mahomes struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

Both pitchers were throwing no-hitters through four innings until Whitehouse’s first hit plated the game-winning run. The inning began with Jake Parker reaching on an error. A walk to catcher Rex Swinney put runners at first and second.

Kopech struck out the next batter but then Caleb McNulty put down a sacrifice bunt. Parker raced to third and took a long turn toward home, waiting for Kopech to throw on to first and give him a chance to potentially go home. Only Kopech faked a throw to first and came back to third to get Parker in a run-down and eventually an out for the second out of the inning.

Whitehouse courtesy runner Brennan McDaniel moved up to second during all of this along with McNulty to first on the fielder’s choice. With two outs, Eric Munoz turned on a pitch and hit a liner past third into left field. McDaniel raced around to score, narrowly crossing home plate before McNulty was thrown out at third trying to advance.

The one-run cushion was all Mahomes needed. He struck out the side in the sixth and took care of business in the seventh for the second no-hitter of his varsity career.

“I’ve pitched my whole life and this is maybe my fourth one,” Mahomes said. “I was throwing good the first inning, but I just tried to contain myself (with all of the scouts watching) and manage my energy, so I could complete the whole game.

“When you have a team as good as I do, I know that if I pitch well and give up one or two that we are going to get the win.”

WHITEHOUSE 10, PRINCETON 3

Through four innings of Tuesday afternoon’s tilt with Princeton, Mahomes had delivered a single, double and home run with Peyton Conser working on a perfect game.

Neither was able to complete their feats, but that did not stop the Wildcats from cruising to a comfortable 10-3 win.

After his no-hitter in the first game of the day, Mahomes let his bat do the damage against Princeton. He doubled in the first inning, singled and scored in the second and capped it off with a two-run homer to left in the fourth, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.

Conser was the winning pitcher, going five innings and allowing two runs on three hits with two walks and nine strikeouts, losing his perfect game to the first batter in the fifth.

Princeton’s Derrick Strawn, who began the game for the visitors, had a solo homer in the seventh.

———

Whitehouse 2, Mount Pleasant 1

Mt. Pleasant 001 000 0 — 1 0 3

Whitehouse 100 010 x — 2 2 0

Michael Kopech and Riley Greenlee; Patrick Mahomes and Rex Swinney. W — Mahomes. L — Kopech. SB — WH: Peyton Conser.

RECORDS — Mount Pleasant 8-6; Whitehouse 12-0.

———

Whitehouse 10, Princeton 3

Princeton 001 000 0 — 3 6 4

Whitehouse 004 402 x — 10 9 0

Derrick Strawn, Keanu Guastardo (4), Tyler Ford (5) and Reese Schultz; Peyton Conser, Grant Herrington (6) and Rex Swinney. W — Conser. L — Strawn. 2B — WH: Patrick Mahomes, Conser, Coleman Patterson, Nate Brooks. HR — P: Strawn (solo, seventh inning). WH: Mahomes (one runner on, fourth inning). SB — WH: Brooks.

RECORDS — Princeton 5-10-2; Whitehouse 13-0.

NEXT UP — Whitehouse at Texas High, 1 p.m. Thursday.