NEW PALESTINE — The New Palestine baseball team has been introducing a number of hurlers new to the varsity level since the season began.
Wednesday was junior Jaden Jaques’ turn to make his varsity pitching debut, and he delivered 51/3 shutout innings in an 8-1 Dragons victory against Connersville.
The win improved New Palestine’s mark to 6-0 on the season. Jaques joins sophomore Grant Hickman and senior Cameron Espich, as each has won his first career varsity start.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryJaques’ twin brother, Joshua, finished the game with 12/3 innings of relief in his varsity pitching debut.
“He threw the ball pretty well. We’re pretty happy with Jaden and Josh. They’re trying to find their way at the varsity level. They’ve got to learn and know they belong,” New Palestine coach Shawn Lyons said. “We didn’t do a good job of helping them defensively. I’m happy for the Jaques brothers and Trevor (Rush) in his first varsity start behind home place. He did a nice job.”
Again, the Dragon offense pounced quickly, as Colby Jenkins blasted a homer to left-center in the first to give New Palestine a lead. The Dragons would add a run in the second when Grant Wiegand’s infield single on a perfectly-executed hit-and-run put him on base. He would later score on the first of Nick Rusche’s two-RBI singles up the middle.
The second RBI hit by Rusche plated Wiegand in the fourth, which was followed by Jack Walker’s two-run double that broke the game open. New Palestine plated three more runs in the fifth to extend the lead.
The top of the Dragons’ lineup delivered. Rusche was 2-for-5 with two RBI. Walker was 2-for-3 with three RBI, while Jenkins also walked twice and scored three times in addition to his homer. Cleanup hitter Jacob Garrison was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
“The table-setters are up top,” Lyons said. “Our most experienced hitters, Nick Rusche, Colby Jenkins and Jack Walker, those guys have been in the lineup since they were freshmen and sophomores.”
Wiegand, hitting in the eighth spot, set the table. He was 2-for-2 with a walk and scored all three times.
Jaden Jaques struck out six and allowed four singles, two of which were infield hits. Only three times did the ball leave the infield against him, as he induced eight groundball outs, all to the left side of the infield. He had to pitch out of trouble once, as a walk and two infield singles loaded the bases for Connersville in the third. A grounder to shortstop Nick Rusche ended the threat.
All of the groundball outs were to the left side. Third baseman Jacob Bain had seven assists and a putout, playing flawlessly at the hot corner.
“Jacob Bain was phenomenal at third base. He made some great plays,” Lyons said.
Joshua Jaques came in with two runners on base in the sixth and immediately finished the inning with a 5-3 doubleplay. Connersville scored in the seventh on a bases-loaded hit batsman, the run unearned because of two errors in the inning.
The Dragons committed three errors behind the pitchers — two in the seventh inning, during which Connersville scored its lone run on a bases-loaded hit batsman.
That was a point of concern with a gauntlet of strong opponents coming up — the next six games are against four teams with a combined record of 16-4 — the errors were a point of emphasis post-game.
“We’ve played six games in seven days. I don’t want to give them the benefit of the doubt, because we expect more,” Lyons said, noting the “big jump” the schedule takes. “We’re going to have to play 10 times better to have a chance on Friday night.”
