STATE BASEBALL: The spectacular becoming the norm
Winner of all three Bobcat substate games, Six takes 10-game winning streak to stateBy ROSS THEDE
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Mason City head coach Troy Rood spoke with his squad for 20 minutes following its substate loss to Marshalltown last Wednesday night at Roosevelt Stadium in Mason City. The second-ranked Mohawks, hopeful for their first state tournament berth since 2006, were crushed.
Rood hugged his seniors, wiped away a few tears and turned to the awaiting media.
As hard as it was for him to accept defeat, it was just as easy to give credit where he felt - where he knew - it was due.
"Jimmy Six is the best left-hander I've seen since I've been a head coach," Rood commended. "He has great stuff, but it's not just the stuff, it's his durability."
Marshalltown's senior southpaw struck out 14 Mohawks and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh inning with the game, and a trip to state, on the line. And he did it two days after a three-inning relief stint in which he shut down Waterloo West long enough for the Bobcats to rally for a substate semifinal victory.
Six turned around to go the distance against Mason City because his team needed him to. That's all the reason he needed.
"You've got to give our kids credit because they kept hanging in there," said MHS head coach Steve Hanson. "They could have chucked it in a couple times but you know the guy who didn't chuck, the guy who won't chuck it in is Jimmy Six. Jimmy won't do that. He hit a guy and he walked a guy (in the seventh), but so what, you win or lose with that guy."
For the last two summers winning has been the primary option, especially in the latter stages of July. Six earned three of Marshalltown's four postseason victories in last year's run to a Class 4A state runner-up finish, and Six picked up all three substate victories over the last two weeks.
His last 10 decisions have been wins, including three in relief, since a rocky 1-3 start to the season.
"I had a rough start, just not being too accurate, just not knowing where to place the ball," said Six, who struck out 15 in Marshalltown's season-opening loss at Des Moines Hoover. "I was just throwing it, but getting past those games has helped me a lot in knowing what to do with the pitches. I've progressed a lot and obviously everything feels good out there."
Six developed into Marshalltown's staff ace during a junior campaign in which he finished 6-3 with a 2.02 earned run average and 61 strikeouts in 59 innings.
Not too bad, right?
The Bobcats, and opposing hitters, hadn't seen anything yet.
Six goes into the Iowa High School State Baseball Tournament as the Class 4A overall leader in innings pitched (80) and strikeouts (133). His ERA is a glistening 1.14 and opposing batters are hitting just .206 against him.
Sioux City North will get a second look at Six when the top-ranked Stars (33-7) take on the Bobcats (26-15) in the opening round of the 4A state bracket for the second consecutive year. Six struck out eight and scattered six hits in a 2-0 Marshalltown triumph.
"Obviously there's bad memories for me of him," said North head coach Brian Drent. "He pitched a great game against us. I liked our team going into that game last year and he was able to keep us out of balance all game, he was able to throw his curve(ball) for strikes on any count in any situation, and that is going to be good for any high school pitcher who can do that."
The Stars averaged 9.2 runs per game before being bounced by the MHS staff ace.
"Jimmy is better than last year, a full season of experience and a bunch of starts and a bunch of close games, tough games, and that's where he gets really good," Hanson said. "The tougher the game, the better he's going to be because he's extremely competitive and really unflappable. He's going to go and pitch and he's going to do what he can do and if that's good enough, great, and if not, that's great too. He'll give a wonderful effort."
Six is 11-3 this season and 18-6 for his career. This year's resum includes victories over Class 3A state qualifier Norwalk, then-No. 3 Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Cedar Rapids Jefferson and two wins over Mason City. He picked up two wins on the same day, going all five innings in a game-one rout of Ames before tossing the final two frames of the second game.
"Jimmy's good because he's a great worker and he really doesn't care who gets the credit, he really doesn't," said Hanson. "He's first-team all-conference and first-team all-district and he's going to play in the all-star game and he would throw all that out the window for a chance to pitch Saturday night. He'd give it all away and I think that is in his heart, that's just how he's made up and that's really refreshing because without guys like that you don't get to where we are.
"And you throw into it the fact that he's a left-handed pitcher who has great control and the ability to strike people out, that helps a lot too."
Six has allowed only five earned runs in 55 innings since his last loss, a 6-1 defeat on June 15 at Mason City. He has 100 strikeouts and only 10 walks in that span.
"He's done a lot to enhance his God-given ability and it's all kind of come to fruition for him this year," said Hanson.