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Sports

Deep pitching staff leads Shorewood baseball

The Shorewood baseball team is hoping to ride an experienced pitching staff all the way to the state title.

It does not take Shorewood baseball coach Wyatt Tonkin long to decide what his teams biggest strength is. In fact, he offers it up without even being asked.

Pitching.

A quick glance at the roster seems to validate Tonkin's feelings. The Thunderbirds (2-1) feature a group of six pitchers (three starters, three relievers), that could rival any group in the state.

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University of Washington-commit Blake Snell and Gonzaga-bound Kevin Moriarty highlight the sextet that also includes senior captain Connor Mckeever, junior Gage Carroll, junior McAree and sophomore Josh Hawkinson. The group features three strong arms out of the bullpen, uncommon with some colleges,  almost unheard of at the high school level.

"I don't believe there'd be too many teams that wouldn't want to have [our pitching staff]," Tonkin said. "When they're on, they're tough to beat. If can catch it and throw it behind them, we don't need to score 15 runs a game."

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The Thunderbirds are not necessarily known for their offensive prowess, but that may be because Tonkin designed it that way. With a strong group of pitchers leading the way, Shorewood's strategy for victory in 2011 is simple: pitch and play better defense than anyone.

That formula was on full-display last Saturday against Inglemoor. Shorewood allowed just two hits in a 3-0 shutout.

"Pitching and defense are the name of the game," Tonkin said. "I try to make our practices most of the time two-thirds defense and one-thirds offense."

The Thunderbirds are also aided by a tool that no coach can teach: experience. Shorewood returns 14 players, seven starters from the 2010 squad, including first-team all-state and UW-commit infielder Trevor Mitsui (.509, 11 HR's, 31 RBI's in 2010) . The Thunderbirds should be helped come playoff time by the fact that all seven have state tournament experience, having played on the 2010 squad that finished fourth in state.

"I think it will really help us," Tonkin said of the teams experience. "Not only last year did we get our roll and it was a lot of fun, but we learned a lot too, I think."

Shorewood is playing in a new division this season, moving from 4A down to 3A for the first time since 1999. Tonkin doesn't like to make predictions on how the season will go, but did admit that the group he has this season has state-champion potential.

"With our pitching staff, we've definitely got a chance to win a state title," Tonkin said."We were one base hit from [playing for] one last year."

There is the fear of a letdown after a successful season, with players perhaps taking for granted their spot in the state tournament. Shorewood also has the distraction of a heavy presence of scouts at their games.

"My biggest worry [coming into winter workouts] was are we going to be wearing the same size hat that we left last year with? Or are we going to get a little bit big-headed?" Tonkin said. "I've kind of addressed that....but I think last year kind of helped us because we know what the situation is."

With a talented pitching rotation and experience behind it, Tonkin's group could be headed for a deep run come the 2011 state tournament.

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