High school baseball: Wadsworth's Jamison Marshall pitches complete game, blanks Brecksville

WADSWORTH — The Wadsworth baseball team didn't just have to battle Bees on Wednesday.The Grizzlies also had to contend with rain, lightning and even their coach's son to defeat Brecksville 3-0 and complete their Suburban League National series sweep.Sophomore Jamison Marshall kept swatting away the Bees (6-4, 3-3) from the mound, tossing a five-hit shutout with eight strikeouts."I felt great out there," Marshall said. "I love every single time going out there and competing for my teammates."It wasn't clear if Marshall would get the chance to finish the game for Wadsworth (6-4, 3-3), as lightning forced a weather delay with two outs in the top of the fourth inning and lasted 50 minutes.After a conversation with coaches, Marshall ran back out to the bump when play resumed."That's a hard decision when you have a sophomore to bring him back out there like that," Wadsworth coach Greg Pickard said. "But he was pretty adamant he wanted it and didn't look like he was laboring at all, so we let him go, and he rewarded us for it."It was getting close (to us not letting him pitch after the delay). The game is important, but the health of the young man's arms is even more important."There was never any doubt in Marshall's mind."I was ready," he said. "I just wanted to get back out there and finish the game."The offense gave Marshall an early lead, scoring three runs in the first inning.Camren Shuleva, Jason Copeland and Michael Cindia delivered one-out singles to load the bases, and Lucas Cowen hit a ball back to pitcher Leo Carey that was misplayed to score Shuleva and keep the bases loaded.Back-to-back RBI singles by Ryan Stoops and Bryson Bupp then gave Wadsworth a 3-0 lead."We had to get something going," Stoops said. "We've seen the ball well and finally got some hits, because we keep killing the ball and it is going straight to people, but we finally got some balls to drop."That was all Marshall needed, as he faced more than four batters in an inning just twice."Any time I can get run support, it just feels great going back out there with the lead," Marshall said. Eight Wadsworth players had at least one hit, led by Reid Close with two singles.While Pickard and the Grizzlies were busy picking up two wins over Brecksville this week, there was another Pickard playing a role with Tyler Pickard at second base for the Bees.The son of the Wadsworth coach had a pinch-hit appearance last season and then started both games against his father's team as a senior."It's tough," said Greg Pickard, who coached a number of the Bees in Little League. "It's definitely tough coaching against your own son, for sure. It was something that you really can't prepare for, even though we knew it was coming one day."After losing their first three SL National games, the Grizzlies have now won three in a row, earning a split with Twinsburg along with the sweep of Brecksville."We definitely needed that sweep," Cindia said. "After losing two to North Royalton, that will get us back in it, with a shot for the Suburban League."Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Wadsworth 3, Brecksville 0BRECKSVILLE 000 000 0 — 3 5 1WADSWORTH 300 000 0 — 3 9 1WP — Jamison Marshall (4-1) 7 innings, 5 hits, 8 strikeouts. LP — Leo Carey (1-2) 5 innings, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 8 hits, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts. Brecksville (6-4, 3-3). Wadsworth (6-4, 3-3) — Reid Close 2 singles.