“Are you OK?” asked Selsky’s parents, who were leaving early the next morning and had to stay in order to say goodbye. “Do you want to go to sleep?”
It was a rough night for the Dragons, who lost the first game of the doubleheader 3-1 in 16 innings but did bounce back to win the nightcap 4-2 in seven innings well past midnight.
If anyone left in the stands at the end of the night could sympathize with such a tiring night, it was Selsky’s parents, Steve Sr. and Lou Ann, both tremendous athletes in their days.
There’s a tendency in athletics to assume a male athlete’s talents comes from his dad. In Selsky’s case, that’s only half true. His mom was a great volleyball player in college — something important to note on this Mother’s Day.
“When she gets on the volleyball court, she can still do it,” Selsky said. “I definitely got all my baseball talent from my dad, but as far as jumping and hand coordination, that also comes from my mom.”
One of the hotter Dragons at the plate in recent weeks, Selsky is hitting .305 in his last 15 games, raising his average from .220 to .266.
“More than anything, the hits are starting to fall,” Selsky said. “I started off hot, and then I cooled down. When I was hitting the ball, I was hitting it hard at people. I’m not too concerned about my average, as much as my contact and good at-bats. If you’re doing the right thing, in the long run, your numbers will go up.”
More on moms: Reliever Brooks Pinckard, who was promoted from Dayton to Bakersfield on Saturday, bragged about his mom Dede earlier in the week. She set a national triple jump record for her age group in high school.
“She can still do it all right,” Pinckard said. “She was actually my track coach in high school. Me and her would get go early in the morning before school and work on (the triple jump).”
Pinckard threw 10 scoreless innings and had two saves in his 20-day stint with the Dragons.
Today’s game: Centerville High School graduate Dan Jensen makes his second start of the season. Jensen is 1-2 with a 1.35 ERA. He gave up only one unearned run Tuesday in four innings.
Jensen would have pitched Saturday, but when Daniel Tuttle was thrown out of the game Wednesday in the second inning, Tuttle’s next start was moved to Saturday.
“(Jensen) got an extra day of rest,” manager Delino DeShields said. “He was going to be pitching on three days of rest, so that’s good for him.”
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