Wyoming East head coach Kevin Hedinger had no qualms about junior Jarred Phillips taking the mound in clinching games this season.
And in the two instances he’s done so he’s delivered, going the distance in a 7-0 win over Summers County to clinch a spot in the regional championship and a 4-2 win against James Monroe to clinch the program’s first state tournament berth in 13 years.
In reality, Phillips’ emergence has been a surprise to most outside the program.
His numbers, a 3-0 record with a 2.22 ERA in nine appearances, were solid a year ago but came in just a 22-inning sample size with two starts.
With his workload nearly tripled, having pitched 56.1 innings across 10 starts coming into Thursday’s state tournament matchup with Wheeling Central, Phillips has improved upon last year’s campaign with a 9-1 record and a 1.49 ERA.
That’s all despite averaging just 1.2 strikeouts per inning (72 on the season), a total inflated by a 13-strikeout performance against James Monroe which was his only double-digit performance of the year.
So what makes Phillips a problem for opposing offenses?
“He doesn’t throw 85 (MPH)-plus but he’s got good spin,” James Monroe head coach Tom Gardinier said. “He fills up the zone and he makes you make the mistakes. He does what he’s supposed to do as a pitcher. He’s not a thrower, he’s a pitcher. I know (Jaeden) Lester is probably their No. 1 and rightfully so, but that kid right there he’s pretty close. He’s not that far off.”
Aside from one pitch smacked out of the yard for a two-run home run by James Monroe’s Kadyn Hines, Phillips has been stellar this postseason for the Warriors allowing just those two runs in in 14 innings pitched.
But his transformation from a complementary piece to a co-ace was deliberate.
This past summer Phillips worked with Concord University pitcher Zach Powell who led the Mountain East Conference in innings pitched and was fourth in strikeouts (57) this past season. There was a point of emphasis when the two got together.
“My curveball,” Phillips said. “Zach Powell helped me with it this summer. I had it a little bit but he tweaked it a lot over the summer to help me really get it.”
When the season began, Hedinger was high on Lester, a southpaw and Westside transfer wh0’s established himself as the ace of the staff. He also liked Zach Hunt and Phillips as another solid rotational piece. But Phillips’ emergence has allowed Hedinger to keep Hunt, an all-state caliber catcher, behind the plate more often. He’s only had to pitch 26.2 innings, third on the team and less than half as many as Phillips (56.1) and Lester (61).
His dedication and ability to produce in pressure moments has only inflated Hedinger’s confidence in him. And the moment where he won everybody else over didn’t necessarily come on the mound.
Wyoming East’s first eyebrow-raising victory of the season came on April 3 against perennial power Charleston Catholic.
Phillips didn’t take the mound in that game and had only thrown four innings to that point in the season but in the bottom of the seventh inning he capped a late rally, hitting a three-run double that delivered a 7-6 walk-off win.
“I think his ERA’s about 1.40 and may have gone up after this one a little,” Hedinger said after the James Monroe win. “It seems like when he’s pitching kids know he’s going to be a round the plate so our kids are always looking to make plays. He doesn’t strikeout a ton of kids. He had two walks and that’s two more than what he usually walks. He’s just a confident kid and that goes back to what I told them when we started lifting weights in October.
“They really worked hard at it and this is what we were hoping for. That’s what hard work does.”
The Warriors will return to the state tournament for the first time since 2012 when they face No. 1 Wheeling Central on Thursday at Go-Mart Park in Charleston. Should things go south early, Phillips will likely be called upon and if they advance to Saturday’s Class AA title game, he’ll likely be called upon in on to clinch one more milestone victory, this one the biggest of all.
The last time Wyoming East made the state tournament, it came away with a state championship, anchored by a pitchers Travis McKinney and Derek Thornton who helped the Warriors to a 5-1 victory in the state semis and a 1-0 victory in the championship game.
That formula exists again with Phillips likely to prove himself a key variable.
