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Sports - Modesto Nuts

Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009

Working fast pays off for the Modesto Nuts

Ports shut out in Stockton 5-0

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STOCKTON -- Ethan Hollingsworth has been with Modesto for only seven starts this season.

That's not quite long enough for Nuts fans to get a full grasp of what the 22-year-old righthander is all about, but plenty long enough for Hollingsworth's qualities to rub off on his teammates.

Wednesday, Hollingsworth threw 6º scorelesss innings and benefitted from home runs by Brian Rike, Jeff Cunningham and Charlie Blackmon at Modesto blanked Stockton 5-0.

Hollingsworth (2-2) struck out eight Ports and scattered eight hits to win his second straight start. Over those two outings, he's allowed one earned run on 11 hits over 13º innings, with one walk and 15 strikeouts.

But the numbers don't come close to telling the story of Hollingsworth's impact.

The second-round pick in the 2008 draft stands out on the mound among his peers because of how fast he works.

Hollingsworth throws a pitch, gets the ball back from the catcher, peers in to get the sign and is back into his delivery -- all in less time than it takes to read this sentence.

"The defense likes it and I think it's easier to repeat a delivery when you're working fast -- you don't have too much time to think about things," said Hollingsworth, who played at Western Michigan.

"In my last year of college, I found that once I got into doing it and was effective doing it, everybody else seemed to like it. I think the only people who don't like it are in the front office because the games move too fast and hurt concession sales."

It hasn't always worked. Hollingsworth first joined the Nuts form low-A Asheville on June 29, but was sent back on July 14, only to return in 11 days.

More than one teammate has taken notice and has incorporated some of Hollingsworth's haste into his own game. Nuts' starter Cory Riordan credits Hollingsworth for illuminating the advantages of throwing strikes and working quickly. All Riordan has done since picking up his pace on the mound is win his last five starts.

"The first time I was here, even though I didn't pitch well, Jerry told me he liked that I worked quickly," Hollingsworth said. "It doesn't work for everybody. Some guys, when they do it, start moving too fast and their arm stays up."

Modesto made the most of its seven hits. It parlayed an infield error, a walk and a two-out, broken-bat single by Lars Davis into a 1-0 first inning lead against Ports' starter Scott Hodsdon (6-9.) Cunningham led off the second with a single and strolled home when Rike turned on an 0-2 fastball and crushed it into the deep-water channel beyond the right-field fence.

Cunningham added a solo homer off the top of the centerfield warehouse in the sixth and Blackmon followed in the seventh with a solo homer to right -- the second of his three hits.

NOTES -- The win reduced the Nuts' magic number to clinch a playoff berth to nine over Visalia. The magic number to clinch the No. 2 seed over Bakersfield is 13 with 19 games left. ... Modesto's win was a bounce-back from Tuesday's 2-1, 11-inning loss that ended after The Bee's deadline.