By Tim Tassa -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — Three warm-up pitches between innings against the Roanoke Maroons on Tuesday at Bridgeforth Field were all Shenandoah junior left-handed pitcher Matthew Davis wished for.

Battling the afternoon's inclement weather and a potential postponement, the quick pace was conducive to the way Davis likes to pitch anyway: "Just work fast — strike 1, strike 2, get ahead," he said of his gameplan.

"Just throw strikes."

Davis' rhythmic pace produced a one-hit, 10-strikeout performance over seven innings that was backed by a 15-hit outburst for the Hornets in a 12-1 win over the Maroons.

"Matt Davis has been on his A-game, keeping the ball down in the zone. He wasn't as sharp today as he has been, but still, one hit over seven innings — that's pretty good," Shenandoah head coach Kevin Anderson said.

"He likes to get the ball and go."

Davis, 3-0 on the season, has pitched 16 consecutive scoreless innings, and has given up just one run this year — unearned in the Hornets' 8-3 victory against Waynesburg on Feb. 21.

And to help the Hornets to their fifth win in six games and a 7-3 record, he needed just 11 pitches to strike out the side in the first inning, and set the tempo against Roanoke batters struggling to making sound contact with his mix of breaking balls and low-80s fastballs.

"I think we had three baserunners all day, so it just wasn't there. We hadn't played in 10 days, so I'm sure that had something to do with it," Roanoke head coach Larry Wood said.

"The gentleman that threw the first six, seven, eight innings, you know, he was on — he was tough to hit."

However, almost as quickly as Davis walked off the mound in the first, the Hornets' hitters prospered from a more successful approach at the plate than their counterparts.

Shenandoah jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff home run by shortstop Christian Frey and a two-run homer by Scott Van Dusseldorp to left field.

Third baseman Jesse Henry (2-for-2, 2 RBI) added a two-run double in the first to aid a seven-hit inning for the Hornets.

"It just gives your whole squad a boost of confidence to come out swinging the bats like that," Anderson said.

"I think we jumped on his fastball and from then on we couldn't stop hitting," Van Dusseldorp added.

Van Dusseldorp, who played first base, third base and pitched the final inning for the Hornets, finished the outing 3-for-5 with four RBIs and a single shy of the cycle.

Following a double in the second and triple in the fourth, Van Dusseldorp lined out on a shot to right field in the bottom of the fifth — which was ultimately his best chance of completing the rare achievement.

"I was hoping that it would get down but it just stayed up. But you know, it was a good feeling, but I couldn't get the easiest one," he said of the elusive one-bagger.

Van Dusseldorp struck out his final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh.

Roanoke starting pitcher Barrett Henderson lasted just 1 1/3 innings after allowing nine hits and seven earned runs to the 13 batters he faced.

"I thought it was a tight strike zone, that is the bottom line. I thought we were forced to throw the ball more down the middle," Wood said.

"But I'm not making excuses, the umpires didn't lose the ballgame."

Though for the Hornets, despite any strike-zone inadequacies, Davis prospered as he's done all season, allowing the only Roanoke hit of the game in the second inning.

Davis reiterated, "The big thing is throwing strike one, strike two, working fast."

Right fielder Scott Lambert, who leads the team with a .500 batting average, was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and center fielder Jon Holcomb added a three-hit performance and two RBIs.

Designated hitter Adam Kessel contributed two hits and two runs in the winning effort.

The Hornets will return to action at Bridgeforth Field today at 3 against Bridgewater.

*Contact Tim Tassa at ttassa@nvdaily.com

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