ROCKVILLE — Most people who see Jarrod Kirsch pitch might think he’s a senior who is putting the finishing touches on a great high school career. The truth is that he’s in the middle of his sophomore campaign for North Montgomery baseball. While the performance of his last outing, a no-hitter county rival Southmont, would be hard to replicate, the sophomore did his very best as Kirsch fired a complete-game shut out in a 1-0 Charger win over Parke Heritage on Friday night while striking out nine Wolves and giving up just four hits.
The stellar performance moved Kirsch into the history books for the Chargers as he now has three shut outs on the season which ties him for the most in a single season in program history.
“Jarrod just continues to do a good job of focusing on what his job is and staying very poised,” North Montgomery coach Matt Voorhees said of his sophomore ace. “We thought we had the game won when we threw their guy out at third but they called him safe and then two pitches later Jarrod strikes his guy out to seal it. It is a little frustrating that we aren’t able to give him the run support these last two games, but he’s just been rock solid for us and is pitching like the ace that he is.”
The lone run of the game for the Charger came in the third inning as Jarrod’s older brother Jakob scored Ross Dyson on a sacrifice fly. North Montgomery collected just three hits as Brookes Walters, Dylan Braun, and Gage Galloway each got on base.
With the 1-0 win, it snaps a three-game losing streak for the Chargers as they now look to build some more momentum in the middle part of their season. What Voorhees was really impressed with was how his defense responded and helped out Jarrod in the win.
“That’s something that’s been lacking for the most part for us and has cost us some ball games,” Voorhees said. “But tonight we played clean defense and our boys did a good job of adjusting to a difficult surface to play on and centered up when they needed to.”
The Chargers improve to 9-5 on the season with the win and will be right back in action tomorrow as they take on a difficult Seeger team at home. First pitch between the Chargers and Patriots is scheduled for 10 am
