Alex White could close his eyes and picture Dontrelle Willis working from a pitcher's mound before he ever saw him walk out of the Louisville Bats dugout tonight in Huntington Park.
"I saw him pitch probably when I was in middle school or in high school," said White, who at 22 is the top pitching prospect in the Cleveland Indians organization. "He's a good pitcher, obviously, and he threw really well when he was in the big leagues. He threw well tonight. It's fun to watch someone like that who knows what he's doing and has the experience that he does."
Triple-A baseball can feel like a crossroads, especially on occasions that match rising stars with established veterans such as Willis.
White, who started his third game for the Clippers, matched Willis pitch for pitch in a taut duel that Columbus won 4-3 on a bases-loaded RBI single by Jerad Head in the ninth inning.
Willis left the game with a 2-1 lead in the sixth. The run, a Chad Huffman homer to open the sixth, was the first Willis has given up in three starts this season in his comeback attempt with the Cincinnati Reds organization.
"His other two starts were much better," Louisville manager Rick Sweet said. "Quite frankly, (the Clippers) made him work very hard tonight. They fouled off a lot of pitches and got him into deep counts. He's not been throwing many deep counts."
White allowed two runs over seven innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.
"He pitched a hell of a ballgame," Sweet said. "Alex impressed me a lot."
The Bats took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Danny Dorn and a run-scoring single by Todd Frazier. Willis took his shutout into the sixth when Huffman led off with his first home run of the season.
"He's got great stuff," Huffman said. "It's something I'll never forget, that I hit a home run off Dontrelle Willis. It's something I can tell my kids about."
Luke Carlin tied the score at 2 with a home run to open the seventh. Carlin added an RBI double in the eighth to give the Clippers a 3-2 lead.
Louisville came right back against Josh Judy (2-1) in the ninth to tie the score on a sacrifice fly by Chris Valaika.
Lonnie Chisenhall led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single against Jerry Gil (0-1). Huffman and Jason Kipnis singled to load the bases, which brought Head to the plate. He lined his third hit of the night up the middle to end matters on a good note for White.
"It's always a good feeling going to the mound when you've got good stuff," he said. "I had a good two-seam (fastball). A big key for me is to establish the inside of the plate, and we did tonight."
jmassie@dispatch.com