Ashley Stevens is a Master’s student at ASU Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Mountain Ridge High School for AZPreps365.com

GLENDALE– Two senior Division I-bound aces battled it out in Mountain Ridge and Perry’s only matchup of the year in a pitcher’s duel. Mountain Ridge right-hander Jace Smith came out on top, pitching six shutout innings and striking out 10 in his impressive outing. 

The Mountain Lions beat the Perry Pumas 5-0 on Wednesday at home to improve their record to 13-3, standing at the number one spot in the 6A Desert Valley region with two games remaining in the regular season. 

Smith, a Grand Canyon University commit, threw a total of 98 pitches, recording two strikeouts in his last frame before head coach Eddie Bonine handed off the ball to Josh Wakefield to close out the game. Smith kept Puma’s lineup off balance utilizing his 92mph fastball, mixing in his changeup early in counts to get ahead of the hitters before using his curveball as his kicker.

“Jace is a dog,” Mountain Ridge shortstop Aj Singer said. “So we're ready every time Jace comes out here because we expect him to keep us in the game, so we expect to put up runs for him.”

“He's had some outings this year that haven't gotten his way and he's done a tremendous job of continuing to keep his head down and working really hard,” Bonine said. “I think today and even the last start against Boulder Creek are just examples of some of the work he's been putting in and some of the adjustments he's made, throwing a lot of strikes and attacking hitters.”

Smith, normally not too high on emotion during his starts, became visibly amped up the more pitches he was able to work into his counts for strikes and keep the shutout alive. 

“I think it just locks me in more," Smith said. "You get more in the game, you feel your stuff out and emotionally just want to get after it."

“I would love to see him pitch with a little bit more fire,” Bonine said. “When you pitch with a little bit more fire, you've locked in more, you're more focused, you're in the moment and obviously it's good for any of these guys to enjoy the competition side of things.”

Stephen Hernandez got the start for the Pumas and worked 62 pitches before being pulled after two innings of work. Jackson Forbes, Aj Singer, and Zach Yorke each worked walks in the bottom of the second, with Yorke’s walk plating Forbes for the first run of the game. Hernandez served a backwards K to Wakefield for his last batter faced. Perry’s head coach handed the ball off to senior Luke Stanley to relieve Hernandez in the top of the third.

​​”Our whole goal was to get him out because we knew he was the best arm," Singer said of the Arizona State commit. "We were hoping to see someone else and we attacked whoever they came with second.”

Hernandez, whose fastball tops out in the low 90’s, threw five strikeouts in his two innings of work, but long pitch counts and five issued walks were the cause of his shortened time on the hill. 

“We have needed to do a better job of fighting to not give away pitches or giving away innings," said Bonine, "and obviously with Hernandez on the mound, you know it's a good arm and you know he’s got good stuff. Our guys did a really good job of just competing. You got to do your best to just get in there, win every pitch and see if we can extend it.” 

The Mountain Lions added three runs in the third inning and one more in the fourth. Cannon Peery went 1-for-2 with two walks and an RBI double in fourth for the last plated run of the game. Peery was one of four Mountain Lion batters who walked twice in a game in which the Puma pitching staff surrendered 10 bases on balls.

Junior infielder Cannon Peery up to bat in the bottom of the third. He would later walk in the AB and account for one of the three runs scored in the inning. (Ashley Stevens Photo/ AZPreps 365)

“We really battled at bat’s and made (them) throw a lot of pitches,” Smith spoke of his offense. “We just got on base and did our thing.”

Mountain Ridge heads to Scottsdale to face Chaparral at 6 p.m. on Friday for the first of a two-game series. Both teams are tied at 7-1 in the 6A Desert Valley region standings.

“We're fighting for a region championship so it’ll come down to these last two games,” Bonine spoke. “I mean, anytime you play under the lights, that's obviously fun as a high school baseball player. The more we just stay focused on fighting, putting good at bats together, putting good innings together and just competing, it’ll be fun.”