By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Mount Rainier senior ace Robert Jones' complete game shutout helped the Rams win against Thomas Jefferson this past Friday, and Jones had good help, getting solid offensive assistance like a big smash from designated hitter Jeremy Hoefer and defensive aid like Canon Westland's three sliding catches, in a 3-0 win over the visiting Raiders.

It was a bounce-back win, too, for the Rams, who lost to these same, Raiders, 5-4, a day earlier, in South Puget Sound League Northwest Division play. And, the Rams lost that game, after having led, 4-3, going into the bottom of the seventh.

Todd Beamer leads the Northwest division with a 2-1 season record, with the Rams having played one less game, and, are tied with the Raiders for second place, at 1-1. But, the Rams' 4-1 overall mark kind of bests Beamer's 5-2 to start to the season.

"Definitely, this win was important for us, after the first loss of the season, yesterday," said Bobby Odegard, Rams manager. "The guys bounced back from a tough loss and played a solid baseball game."
Odegard mentioned some good things by his team done against the Raiders, like Hoefer's home run, but the headline of this game was the team's pitcher, Jones.

"Most of the story of this game is Robert Jones," said Odegard. "He shut out Kentlake, 1-0, in his first start of the season and now TJ, 3-0. Complete games, both times."

Jones kept the Raiders scoreless through the top of the first and second innings before Hoefer stepped to the plate and crushed the ball for the Rams, in the bottom of the second inning, clearing the left field fence.

"Jeremy's home run was our team's first homer of the season," said Odegard.

Hoefer was standing, talking, with another senior, Bryce Pulver, after the game against the Raiders, and both talked of that solo knock over the chain-link barrier.

"It was middle, over the plate," said Hoefer, talking about the pitch he hit out.

"Smashed it, been in the weight room," said Pulver, chiming in, smiling, at his teammate. Hoefer then smiled, too.

"I feel like my swing is better this year," said Hoefer.

That Hoefer solo shot staked the Rams to a 1-0 lead, and things stayed that way until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Rams did more damage.

Blake Nelson, a senior, drew a walk before stealing second base, making it in the nick of time, sliding, as, the Rams first base coach, Bryan Estobal, was shouting, "Down!"

Then, Armand Swanson, a sophomore, walked on four pitches. That brought up Pulver, who, incidentally, played on South Highline National All Stars in Little League growing up, like a small smattering of these Rams' guys, including Hoefer and Jones. And, Pulver, at the plate, pounded the ball by the Raiders' diving shortstop into left field, bouncing the Rams' lead to 2-0.

"Middle in, left it up, fastball," said Pulver, describing the pitch he hit for an RBI single that scored Nelson from third.

And, securing, pitcher, Jones, one more insurance run in this game, in the same inning, was the very next batter up to the plate, Jake Gibbs.

"Do a job, huh," came the dugout chatter, which was lively all game long, as, it was, too, even, in the loss to the Raiders the day before, to note. So, Gibbs came up into the batter's box, and, got the job done, and not with a single but a different 's' word. Gibbs' smash to deep center field was caught, but Swanson tagged up and easily made it home from third. A nice manufactured run, there, making the Rams in front, 3-0, after the fourth inning was completed.

That was more than enough support for Rams' pitcher Jones, who just kept managing the Raiders' batters, sending them down in the top half of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Jones' great seven innings of work on the mound was with only one time of threat by the Raiders, who got back-to-back singles in the top of the sixth inning. Then, a nice line drive hit ball looked to be, maybe, going to go over Rams' center fielder Connor Davidson's head. But, no, Davidson backpedaled smoothly, reading the play at the crack of the bat, and then turned sideways and around and gloved the ball. Davidson got the ball in, quickly, but the runner on second base, since ball was hit deep to center field, had enough time to tag up and get to third base.

So, with two outs, in the Raiders' top of six, the next batter could have given the Rams' trouble if could get a hit. And, the batter hit the ball, looping over the third base area toward the grass in shallow left field. But left fielder Canon Westland got a great jump on the ball, and came sliding in, knees first, to make the catch. That ended that Raiders' rally try.

What was working for Jones today on the hill?

"Everything," said Jones. "Got a mixture of pitches. Fastball, change-up, splitter, curveball."

Jones mentioned that the defense was great behind him in his first win of the season against Kentlake.

"Blake Nelson, our shortstop, made some really, good, plays," said Jones. "Armand Swanson, at third base, made some nice plays. And, my catcher, Nick Dammeier, called the game well. Stopping balls."

And the second game, this one, against the Raiders, care to mention a few?

"Nick again," said Jones. "Blake stopped quite a few balls up the middle. Canon made three nice sliding catches. And, Connor Davidson did a great job tracking balls down, making catches."

The Rams last season weren't making as many catches during the high school baseball season, not getting as many wins from the pitchers, etc. Things were different, a 2-3 start to the season, for one thing, Odegard said, and, a season mark of 9-11, with no postseason, when all was said and done.

So, what's different last season to this?

"Everybody gets along this season," said Odegard. "Everyone knows their job. Last year, a lot of guys played at their own pace. This is more of a team-oriented, team."

"Better communication," said Pulver. "Everyone knows where to be. Everyone picks each other up."
Jones wanted to mention one other thing, too, team-oriented stuff, an event that moved him to keep going, strongly, against the Raiders.

"Jeremy Hoefer's home run really energized us, kept me excited, kept me doing what I was doing," said Jones.

Jones went on to say the whole offense did its job.

Makes a difference, pitching with a lead?

"Yeah, it makes a difference with the offense behind you, it's nice having a lead," said Jones.

And, what's nice about the manager, Odegard?

"Coach is great," said Jones, who threw a four-hitter in this game, striking out five, allowing a couple walks."He has a lot of faith in me to be able to finish the game and do my job. Real encouraging. Always there to keep you up, so, not down on self."

And, Pulver added, "He's positive. Tells us to stay positive. Every time we come in from the outfield, he tells us what we need to be doing to be successful."

And, speaking of success, from Odegard's point of view, this season sounds like it very well could be a succession of good progression for the Rams, well past the end of this regular season.

"I'm expecting us to be in a good place at the end of this season, doing some damage," said Odegard