Fifty-three degrees and a chilly northerly wind with 32 mph gusts weren’t the ideal baseball conditions for flu-stricken Trey Longacre.
That didn’t appear to impact his play on the mound in the slightest, though.
The senior channeled his inner Michael Jordan to log his own memorable ‘Flu Game’, pitching a no-hitter on the way to a 12-0 MacArthur win over city rival Lawton High in three innings at the LHS Festival on Monday.
Longacre, who is 2-0 in starts this season, struck out four batters, throwing strikes on 24 of his 41 pitches.
Many athletes with such an illness would choose to rest, but Longacre said the significance of this season served as his motivation to push through the pain and discomfort.
“Right now, I’m just trying to put it behind me because it’s my senior year, and I can’t hold anything back,” Longacre said. “I can’t afford to miss anything. I need to go out there and show out and do my best. My body is pretty weak right now, but I feel pretty confident in pitching.”
Highlanders coach Rodney DeLong wasn’t surprised by Longacre’s performance. Although Longacre didn’t have many opportunities to pitch on last season’s state-qualifying team, DeLong said he knew the 5-foot-5 senior would be a special player on the mound.
“We had some games last summer, and I threw him out there and thought, ‘Man, he really throws it good,’” DeLong said. “He has a nice, live fast ball, a good break pitch and he just throws strikes. He’s got enough velocity where you have to respect his fast ball, and then he can mix in that curve ball. I saw that during the summer and thought he had a chance to really help us on the mound, and he’s come in and done just that.
“I didn’t know if he was going to play today or not, but he’s a tough kid; he’s a trooper. He got out there and went right after them, and that’s what you want. Trey is our leader. He keeps these guys in line and makes them work.”
Meanwhile, the offense provided plenty of insurance for Longacre. Mac tallied nine hits, seven of which came in a 10-run second inning.
Holding a 2-0 lead going into the second, Mac wasted little time putting the winless Wolverines away.
Aeron Woodson scored on a line-drive single to right field from Racer Felter to begin the onslaught, and Kobe Houseman, who recorded a single earlier in the frame, crossed home plate shorty after thanks to a passed ball. Michelle Artzberger followed that up with a sacrifice fly to left field, bringing Felter home to stretch the lead to 5-0.
A quartet of singles from Zac DeLong, Jack Smith, Rylan Webb and Brad Hoskins added two more runs for the Highlanders, and a sac fly, followed by an error from an LHS outfielder, allowed Smith and Webb to tack on two more.
Houseman drilled a line drive to center field to push the advantage to double digits at 10-0, and Felter brought him home with a hard ground ball, reaching first base thanks to a third baseman error.
Artzberger, who finished with 2 RBI, capped off the win with a single on a fly ball to left field, allowing Felter to record his second run.
Houseman and Webb led Mac with two hits each.
The Highlanders’ second win of the afternoon presented more of a challenge — at least through the first few innings.
Apache managed to keep it close for the most part, but much like the LHS game, Mac’s bats got hot down the stretch. The Highlanders doubled their point total in the fifth inning, scoring six runs to pull away for a 12-3 win over the Warriors in five innings.
Zac DeLong began the impressive inning with a single, and after a double from Smith and a single from Webb, he was brought home to give Mac its first point of the inning. Hoskins followed that trio of hits with a double, scoring Smith to make the score 8-3.
Webb was the next to score after Malik Wilson grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Felter joined the action with a 2-RBI triple to left field, scoring Hoskins and Wilson before adding the team’s final run himself shortly after on a passed ball.
The Highlanders finished with 13 hits, and Longacre led the way, going 3-of-4 at the plate with 4 RBI. Smith was close behind with three hits and 2 RBI, and Felter and Hoskins each finished with two hits.
Mac took a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first and appeared to be on track to another rout, but Apache, No. 12 in Class 2A, wasn’t ready to give up.
The Warriors (6-3) responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half thanks to a pair of passed balls charged to catcher Longacre, but that was the closest they got thanks to the stellar pitching of Hoskins.
Hoskins relieved Felter on the mound in the second inning, and he didn’t disappoint.
The senior threw 23 strikes in 31 attempts, striking out two batters in the process.
“Brad is so solid and so consistent,” coach DeLong said. “I know that every time I put him in there, I’m going to get two or three really solid innings. He keeps the ball down for strikes, he keeps you off balance and makes you hit it on the ground. He gets ground-ball outs. He’ll get a couple of strikeouts here and there, but most of the time, you can’t hit him hard. He’s one of those guys you just can’t square up. It takes teams two or three times through the order to catch on to his pitching style.”
Artzberger pitched the final inning, earning three strikeouts.
Mac improved to 9-0 with the pair of run-rule victories, and coach DeLong said his team retained its confidence from last season, which has made the Highlanders a formidable opponent.
Of Mac’s nine wins thus far, only one has lasted a full seven innings — a 3-1 decision over Norman North on March 9.
“We haven’t struggled like we did early last year,” coach DeLong said. “We went through some times last year where we couldn’t throw strikes, we hit batters and we struggled at the plate at times. I’m not seeing that this year. We hit a lot, so the guys have a good approach at the plate, and we’re not swinging at a lot of bad pitches. I really like our patience at the plate.
“I kind of expect our guys to play at that level. I don’t think we’re anywhere near where we’re going to get by the end of the year, but once we continue to play good teams and see better pitching, we’ll continue to get better.”