NEW PALESTINE – The Class 4A No. 9 New Palestine Dragons played an all-around solid and hard-played game on Tuesday night.
Their reward? A 4-3 victory against 4A No. 1 and defending state champion Cathedral. With both schools using pitchers further down on their depth charts, the game surprisingly turned out to be a contest that hinged on defense and situational hitting.
“It’s great to get a win over a program like [Cathedral],” New Palestine coach Shawn Lyons said. “It was a mid-week game, but it still goes to show our guys that they can compete with anyone.”
The Dragons got off to a hot start, as shortstop Nick Rusche led off the game with a double. He was immediately driven in by catcher Colby Jenkins, who lofted a ball over the right field fence for a two-run home run.
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The Dragons maintained their lead until the fourth inning, as Dragons starter Cameron Pitzer held the Irish scoreless throughout the first three innings. He ran into some trouble in the fourth, however, as he gave up three singles before being replaced by Cameron Espich. The Dragons were able to hold the Irish to only three runs in the inning thanks in large part to a diving catch by center fielder Myles Kost for the third out with men on first and third.
New Palestine tied the game in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Jack Walker.
“That was a huge hit,” Lyons said. “Things like that are what will win us the big games we have left. Jack had struck out twice before coming up there and he dug in and got a huge hit for us.”
The Dragons caught a break in the sixth inning, as University of Louisville-recruit shortstop Jared Poland booted a routine grounder with two outs, which allowed Jacob Bain to score the winning run. The Dragons’ No. 1 starter Jake Garrison came in to shut down the Irish in the seventh inning to secure the victory for the Dragons.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries in our pitching staff,” Lyons said. “So we kind of had to piecemeal our pitchers tonight so they’d be ready for Friday (a doubleheader against Mt. Vernon). We take a lot of pride on Friday nights, so no matter who we’re playing we can’t get our pitching out of sync.”
The Dragons improve their record to 9-0 on the season, and they get a chance to get to double digit victories as they travel to Whiteland on Thursday.
