ELLSWORTH — Long-time Ellsworth Hubber James Georgakas is having a stretch of starts to remember on the mound, allowing just one run in 23 innings across two starts. Most recently, Georgakas tossed a complete nine innings with one run allowed in a 4-1 win over the Prescott Pirates on Friday.

“I was just throwing strikes and guys were fielding the ball, so that makes it really easy to pitch,” Georgakas said. “Just pitch to contact. If they swing and miss, good. If they hit it, just rely on the guys in the field to make plays.”

You might be asking yourself how he has pitched 23 innings across two games. Well, that is because he reached back and found something extra in a 14-inning complete game shutout in a 1-0 win over defending Class B State Champions Osceola.

Georgakas said he has just been throwing strikes as his defense has gotten the job done behind him of late.

“Just don’t pitch anymore, then I don’t have to give up any more runs,” Georgakas joked. “Just keep throwing strikes and let the defense work.”

As for the game against the Pirates, Ben Fischer and Drake Flom started the bottom of the first with a hit a piece, and an RBI groundout from Kasey Bass and sacrifice fly from Michael Koch plated them for a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third, frustrated from missing a pitch in the first, Bass unleashed a high arching shot down the right field line that snuck over the fence for a homer.

“My first at-bat he threw me a similar pitch and I was a little late on it,” Bass said. “He threw the same thing and I just tried to put a better swing on it.”

Georgakas faced little resistance on the mound until the seventh. In the top of the seventh, Prescott had runners on second and third without an out when a deep drive to center field caused Fischer to have to scale up the tall wall, making an incredible catch with his other hand still holding onto the wall for dear life. One run scored on the incredible play, but limiting it to a sacrifice fly was crucial.

“If that gets down or hits the wall, they score two and it’s a one-run game,” Georgakas said. “It kind of saved the inning there, for sure.”

In the eighth, Hubber second baseman Jack Stoltenburg gloved a scorching line drive, gunning a throw to first to complete the double play.

Bass said fielding behind a pitcher like Georgakas is easy, because they know he is going to throw strikes and allow them to make plays.

“It makes such a difference when you know that you’re just going to get ground balls pretty consistently,” Bass said. “Makes life a lot easier.”

Hovering around the .500 mark in league play, it’s going to be all about the final two weeks for the Hubbers.

“Just make sure we don’t take the foot off the gas early,” Bass said. “Last couple games we’ve started off really hot and then kind of taper off.”