The last time Douglas junior Tyler Hoelzen took the mound, it was in the Northern 4A Regional Championship game against a Galena High lineup that featured some of the fiercest bats in the state, including two Division I signees.
While he more than held his own against the Grizzlies in that game, needless to say, the circumstances were a little different Friday afternoon at Damonte Ranch in the Mike Bearman Memorial Preseason Tournament.
Hoelzen struck out six, walked one and surrendered four hits in a complete-game shutout as Douglas picked up a 4-0 win over Damonte Ranch.
"I think anytime I go out on the mound I get butterflies," Hoelzen said. "But I was able to settle in early.
"I was just trying to locate the fastball and keep it down. The defense was great behind me and Jordan did a great job at the plate."
It was the play of the defense, which went without an error, that allowed Hoelzen to keep his pitch-count down and go the distance in the game.
"Tyler got ahead all day," coach John Glover said. "I don't know how many times we looked at the scoreboard and it was a 1-2 or 0-2 count. That's key.
"And we played very well defensively. Anytime you go errorless in a high school baseball game, it gives the pitcher a chance to not have to throw as many pitches and to not have to get out of as many jams on his own."
Indeed, Hoelzen only threw 92 pitches in seven innings, including just nine pitches apiece in the first and third innings.
Meanwhile, the Tiger offense did all of its damage in the first inning.
Left fielder Zack McFadden led off with a single to left and Hoelzen singled through the middle before catcher Jordan Hadlock hit a two-run triple off the centerfield wall.
Tim Rudnick sacrificed Hadlock home and freshman Kameron VanWinkle later singled Jeff Crozier home.
After that, though, Douglas managed just two more hits in the game.
"Give credit to their guy," Glover said. "He settled in and threw a good game.
"I thought our approach was decent, but we still have to learn to drive the ball the other way. We can't just be happy with hitting it over there. Our approach was right, it's just a matter of putting it into practice now.
"Damonte Ranch is a quality program and we're happy to get out of here with a win."
On Thursday, Douglas struggled through some season-opening miscues in a 5-2 loss to Reedbut salvaged a split for the day with a 6-2 win over Santa Clara, Calif., in Sparks.
Sophomore Michael Whalin, making his varsity debut on the mound, pitched six innings of two-hit ball against Santa Clara, surrendering an unearned run while striking out one and walking none.
On the offensive side, Douglas chalked up a run in the bottom of the first as Hoelzen scored on a Hadlock single through the left side of the infield.
Hadlock finished 1-for-1 with two RBIs while Crozier knocked in three runs with a single in the third.
The Tigers broke the game open in the bottom of the third as McFadden led off with a double. Hoelzen drew a walk and McFadden scored as Hadlock reached on an error.
Rudnick bunted safely to load the bases and Crozier looped a single to shallow right with no outs to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.
Santa Clara scored a run in the top of the sixth on an error and put the second run across in the seventh on an RBI double.
Douglas also got hits in the game from Rudnick and VanWinkle. VanWinkle also had a pair of nice defensive plays early in the game, grabbing a sharp grounder with his backhand in the first inning before throwing the runner out at first and scooping a ball out of the dirt in the second before turning around to tag the runner headed to third.
Earlier in the day, the Tigers suffered some early bumps as Reed scored all five of its runs in the first two innings.
Wyatt Graham took the loss on the mound for the Tigers, but kept the Raider bats quiet over the third and fourth innings while Rudnick pitched two scoreless innings in relief.
Hadlock also hit a bomb of a home run to key the Tiger offense.
"We're competing, that's the biggest thing," Glover said. "They are out there trying to win. More than the baseball side of things " hitting or pitching " it's about competing.
"So that is one of the biggest plusses so far."
Still, there is plenty of room to grow.
"There's a lot of work to do," he said. "Offensively we still need to be a lot better.
"There are things that maybe we didn't have to do as much last year that we need to work on. Everyone calls them little things, but they are all a part of the game and they can make or break you, so I don't think they're little at all.
"Every day we'll try to get better and try to take baby steps at it."
