CALEDONIA — Brandon Fikes is far from intimidating on the mound.
His stature more closely resembles a pinch runner than a starting pitcher for one of the state”s perennial baseball powers.
Then he throws his fastball — far from the fastest, but it gets where it needs to be.
He adds a curveball or a changeup, full of enough tricks on a good night to freeze a batter, or force a pop out, or a grounder — even an ill-advised swing — like he did plenty of times Saturday night.
By the time Fikes had finished his latest start, he had led the Hamilton High School baseball team to a 5-1 win.
“I hope my pitching stays like that,” Fikes said.
His coach agreed.
“When he”s on, he”s pretty tough,” Hamilton coach Lewis Earnest said.
Fikes scattered seven hits and kept batters chasing his pitches for most of the evening, striking out seven. He didn”t walk his a batter until the seventh inning.
“He”s a short guy,” Earnest said. “Doesn”t look like he”s going to be able to throw with power, but he”s got a good arm and pretty good little curveball. When he throws strikes and throws around the plate, he”s pretty good.”
As Hamilton”s No. 3 pitcher, his fastball probably topped out in the low 80s. But it was more than enough, and more than Caledonia could handle.
“He had a decent changeup he used occasionally,” Caledonia coach John Wilson said. “He”s not bad.”
It was more than enough defense with Kyle Dahlem driving in two runs — his second part of a three-run third for the Lions. Parker Rye and Chase Reeves also drove in one run apiece in the inning.
“You got to give it to Brandon,” said Rye, clearly more impressed with Fikes” pitching than his team”s offense.
“He threw a real good game. Without him, we might not win this game.”
Hamilton was within reach of a shutout until the sixth — a routine groundout to second turned into a throwing error, allowing a run to score. But it wasn”t enough to allow Caledonia (6-12) to win both games of its Saturday doubleheader. Earlier in the day, it beat West Point 6-1, thanks to a four-run first inning. Andrew Davis drove in two of the runs in the inning and a third run in the third. Davis” swing, though, didn”t have the same success against Hamilton.
“We”ll be all right,” Wilson said. “We”re not a bad team. We”re by far not good yet, but we”re not bad.”
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