Mace Goes The Distance, Wu Comes Up Clutch As Sunlake Advances
May 4, 2017
By Mike Maerz
Director of Florida Operations/Area Scout
Trinity, FL- In a 7A District 10 playoff matchup between the Sunlake Seahawks and the JW Mitchell Mustangs, 2017 RHP Tommy Mace (Sunlake HS, FL) and 2018 RHP/SS Jakob Mattos (JW Mitchell HS, FL) went back and forth in a tremendous pitcher’s duel that saw the visiting Seahawks come away with an extra inning 2-0 victory.
Tommy Mace was masterful on the mound and earned the win by throwing a complete game shutout in eight innings. The Florida recruit was locked in and made quick work of the Mustangs in the first inning with his fastball sitting 90-93 mph, touching 94 along with a 77-79 mph curveball that showed depth and shape. Mace was mostly 90-92 for the next three innings and the breaking ball seemed to get sharper as the game went on. Mace would work around some trouble in the fifth and sixth, mostly at 88-90 while also mixing in an 83-84 mph change up to keep the Mustangs lineup off balance. He then came back out for the seventh and quickly retired the side in order, pushing the game to extras.
With two outs in the top of the eighth and no one on, the Seahawks needed to get something going. After a walk and a hit by pitch put runners on first and second, 2017 3B Michael Wu (Sunlake HS, FL) stepped to the plate and delivered the clutch hit they needed. The South Carolina-Sumter recruit laced a line drive single into the right-center field gap to bring in two and give the Seahawks their first lead of the game at 2-0.
Sensing a chance to finally put the Mustangs away for good, Mace came back out for the eighth and retired the side in order working at 89-91, touching 92 to end the game.
Jakob Mattos would take the hard luck loss on the night, but was just as impressive as he took a no-hitter into the eighth before exiting with two outs. The Coastal Carolina recruit worked at 88-89 mph with his fastball, touching 90 early along with a 74-78 mph curveball. Mattos would settle in and pitch at 85-87, finishing his time on the mound with five strikeouts and allow no hits.
With the win, the Seahawks advanced to the district title game and will face off against Northeast HS on May 5th at 7pm.
Stats
Sunlake
T. Mace: (W) 8 IP, 4 Ks, 3 Hs, 2 BBs
M. Wu: 1-3, 2 RBIs
JW Mitchell
J. Mattos: (L) 7.2 IP, 5 Ks, ER, 0 H, 5 BBs
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