MADISON — When he went to revamp his pitching staff last summer, Warren Central coach Josh Abraham asked for volunteers to learn the submarine motion.

Rising junior catcher Carlos Gonzalez stepped up. On Monday afternoon at Madison Central’s Big Blue Tournament, Gonzalez rewarded his coach and the Vikings with a gem.

Gonzalez hurled a one-hit shutout to beat Nashville’s Father Ryan, 2-0. Gonzalez, still the Vikings’ regular catcher, baffled the Irish with a sinker out of the sidewinding motion.

“I volunteered to learn and switch my motion to bring it down,” Gonzalez said. “Coach Douglas worked with me all summer on it and it paid off. I just had a good feeling today. I was ready when I came to the ballpark.”

Abraham was glad to see it.

“He was the one who was open to learning it and we started working with him all summer. It’s a pitching motion a lot of teams are just not used to seeing. But what it does is get you a lot of outs. The different motion creates more weak-hit balls,” Abraham said.

Gonzalez had been used twice in relief roles, but the Father Ryan game was his first start. According to Abraham, it won’t be the last.

“He’s definitely in the mix as one of our starters. I have confidence in all four of our guys in Jay (Harper), Colby Key and Dee White”, in addition to Gonzalez,  Abraham said.

Dylan Wooten provided all the run support Gonzalez would need. The senior first baseman ripped an RBI single in the first inning and an RBI double in the third to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead. WC may have gotten more out of their first inning, but a base-running mistake and a missed bunt took them out of a possible big rally.

“We had some mental mistakes that cost us some, but we kept swinging the bat,” Abraham said.

After giving up a hit to WC’s Carter Kittrell in the fourth inning, Father Ryan’s Marshall Ussery was nearly the equal to Gonzalez. He struck out four of the next nine faced and allowed just six hits in all.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, got out of his only jam of the day in the sixth after a pair of two-out walks by getting a line out to WC shortstop Beau Wallace to end the threat. In the seventh, Gonzalez used a backdoor cutter to end the game.

The lone hit against him came off Marcus Bauer’s double in the third inning. Gonzalez struck out five and walked four.

Warren Central returns to action today against DeSoto Central at 4:30 p.m. Vicksburg will face DeSoto at 9 a.m. and then get last year’s 5A champ Madison Central at 11:30 a.m.

Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com