ShawneeDispatch.com

Pitching paved the way for the Shawnee Mission Northwest baseball team last weekend.

The Cougars' hurlers threw three gems at the River City Baseball Festival in Lawrence to give the team three wins and improve its record to 9-0.

Consecutive wins over Blue Valley West, Olathe North and Bishop Miege during the festival were all products of stellar pitching and clutch hitting.

Senior left-hander Corey White kicked off the pitching display Thursday evening at the Free State High School baseball field with a commanding one-hit, 4-1 victory against Blue Valley West. White, who never faced more than five batters in an inning in the contest, was backed up by a solid defense that turned two 6-4-3 double plays.

Offensively, the Cougars began their attack in their first at bat when senior catcher Matt LaGree belted a chopper through third and short that scored Parker Amos from second base for the game's first run.

Both teams were held scoreless through the next four innings until the Cougars renewed their scoring prowess in the top of the fifth inning.

Senior second baseman D.J. Read began the inning with a slapped single to right. He then stole second on the next at bat and moved to third on a wild pitch. One out later LaGree walked to put runners on the corners. Senior outfielder Tyler Shepherd followed that with an infield single to the right half of the field, catching the first baseman out of position and driving in Read.

After the next out senior shortstop Brandon Cox smacked a liner at West's shortstop, who mishandled the ball. This allowed both runners to score and put the Cougars up 4-0.

The Jaguars threatened in the bottom of the next inning when, with one out, a Cougar error put runners at first and second with one out. However, five pitches later, Northwest turned a 6-for-3 double play and the Cougars were out of the inning unharmed.

White, whose command was in top form throughout the game, had a no-hitter going into the top of the seventh inning. But West's David Wade ended the no-no with a triple to right. Though West scored in the inning White closed out the game by allowing only one run on one hit, walking three, and striking out seven.

"He was in total command," Northwest coach Rich Kuzydym said of White. "I don't believe he was ever in trouble. Blue Valley West is a good team, too."

For the game, Shepherd was 3-for-4 with an RBI, Waldman went two-for-four, and LaGree was one-for-two with two walks and an RBI.

The Cougars came back on Friday afternoon for a matchup with Sunflower League foe Olathe North at Hoglund Ballpark on the campus of the University of Kansas.

Though Northwest could only manage four hits in the game (two by Amos) the lack of offense was more than compensated for by the pitching efficiency of junior Matt Page, who went the distance, allowing two runs -- one earned -- on six hits, with no walks and eight strikeouts.

As controlling as Page was, however, the outcome of the game was in doubt until the final inning. An error in the top half of the seventh inning allowed Olathe North to tie the score at 2-2 on a base hit with two outs. But Northwest answered in the bottom of the seventh when Tyler Shepherd hit a sacrifice fly to bring home the game's winning run and allow the Cougars to escape with a 3-2 victory.

Saturday's finale against Bishop Miege was more of the same for the Cougars with a controlling lead shrinking in the late innings because of some costly fielding mistakes.

Five errors by Northwest allowed Miege to come from down 6-2 to tie the game in the top of the sixth with four runs. Yet the Cougars' penchant for clutch hitting continued, this time with Waldman collecting a game-winning hit in the bottom half of the seventh to bring home the victory.

Though pleased with the wins and the pitching performances, Kuzydym expressed concern with the team's fielding woes after the festival.

"We played really well," Kuzydym said, "but we made some key errors when we were in control. As a coach, that was disappointing."

With his team sitting at 9-0, Kuzydym said he would try to keep his players' minds off three possible distractions -- their undefeated record, their No. 1 ranking in the latest Kansas Coaches' Poll, and this Saturday's junior-senior prom.

"We don't talk about those," Kuzydym said. "We just go from game to game. We'll just see what happens. We're nowhere near where we want to be on the field. If we shore up that, then we're going to be good."