Eight has proved to be more than enough.
Okotoks Dawgs right-handed pitcher CJ Lewington has blossomed in the early season. He’s gone eight innings in both starts and has given up just one earned run over those 16 innings.
“I’m just trying to do the same thing when I go out there,” Lewington said. “I try to throw strikes, pitch to contact and give us the best chance for a win.”
He turned in another workmanlike effort in the Dawgs 8-1 victory over the Edmonton Prospects at a cold Seaman Stadium on Friday night in front of 3,087 fans.
He gave up just five hits with six Ks and a pair of walks. The Foothills Comp grad started the season pitching 12 consecutive scoreless innings before the Prospects scratched out a run in the fifth inning on Friday.
Lewington did his best to get those fans home as quickly as possible. He’s an efficient pitcher being able to have a pair of two near-complete games despite having a 100-pitch count.
“If he would have had the shutout going into the ninth, we would have left him in there,” said Dawgs pitching coach Jesse English. “We’ve got some guys who haven’t seen much action, so we decided to take him out in the eighth.”
English is impressed with what he has seen so far out of Lewington. The instruction he’s had to give has been of the “Go get ‘em 1-6.” variety.
“He’s just a bulldog out there,” English said. “He gets ahead and throws three pitches for strikes.
“For him, I think it’s just his mentality in staying ahead of the batters.”
Mentality is great, but neither Einstein nor Freud ever racked up a win in the Western Major Baseball League.
Lewington also has good stuff to go with his smarts.
“He’s got a good two-seam fastball that he can throw if he gets behind in the count,” English said. “He can throw that two-seamer, it has movement and get the groundball.
“If you have a fastball that can move that much, in this league, that is huge.”
Lewington’s fastball has been clocked in the high 80 miles per hour range.
There’s a reason Lewington feels right at home at Seaman Stadium. The Calgary native is a graduate of the Dawgs’ Junior Academy.
He also saw spot duty in middle relief for the Okotoks Dawgs in 2014.
“Playing here two years ago really matured me as a pitcher, playing in front of these fans,” Lewington said.
“Now I can come back and feel more comfortable in this situation.”
He opted to play in the Alaska League last summer with the Chugiak Chinooks. He had a 2-1 record and a 3.15 ERA in 20 games in spot relief for the Chinooks.
“It was a lot of fun to go up there and Alaska is beautiful,” Lewington said. “Competition-wise, there are more guys from the major Division I schools. But it’s all college ball and competition is going to be tough everywhere.”
He was 1-2 this past university season with the Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions in his junior year. He played in 11 games with five starts and finished with a respectable 3.25 ERA.
“Halfway through the season turned me into a starter,” he said. “I prefer starting. I get to control the game from beginning to start.
“I don’t have to come into a situation that I didn’t create.”
He credits the Junior Dawgs program into turning him into a university-level pitcher.
“I was only there for my senior year of high school,” Lewington said. “They taught me how to pitch. They play like a college team already which got me ready for the next level.
“They (Dawgs pitching coaches Brandon Newell and Jeff Duda) took me from someone who knew how to throw hard to how to pitch.
“How to throw different, pitches, location… intent.”
