NEW PALESTINE — Franklin Central jumped all over New Palestine on Wednesday.
The visitors, underdogs coming in with a .500 record and facing the No. 2 team in the state, batted around their order twice in the first three innings and jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead.
In those same three innings, New Palestine (18-3) had no hits and totaled one base runner.
The Dragons offense never got going and couldn’t overcome the big early deficit, losing 11-0 for their second straight nonconference defeat.
“Pitching matchups, we’re shorthanded tonight with an injury or two,” New Palestine coach Shawn Lyons said. “We’re not making excuses. Whoever we threw out there, they hit. But we threw two guys tonight at the varsity level who haven’t pitched before, and they brought their number one. Cade (Fitzpatrick) is pretty good.”
Fishers ace Fitzpatrick kept the Dragons bats mostly silent, allowing just two hits and striking out eight Dragons batter in five innings. New Palestine used three pitchers, who combined for three strikeouts but allowed 12 hits and walked five.
It was a short start on the mound for New Palestine’s Trevor Rush. The first five Franklin Central batters reached base safely off three singles and a pair of walks. A sacrifice fly and a double by Fitzpatrick cleared the bases, giving the visitors a 5-0 lead just minutes into the game.
The second inning started with a triple from Franklin Central leadoff hitter Ethan McDaniel, and a walk ended Rush’s day after one inning of work.
Reliever Alex Kropp limited the damage. After a walk and single loaded the bases, a strikeout and a great play at short by New Palestine’s Nick Rusche ended the inning with just one run scoring.
A mistake in the field led to two more Franklin Central runs. With runners on second and third in the third inning, a line drive to right got the second out. The runner on second was caught halfway to third, but an attempted rundown resulted in the runner from third getting home safe and the tag at third being late.
After what should have been the third out, two singles followed, pushing the Flashes lead to 8-0. Kropp hit the next batter in the helmet, loading the bases.
A walk pushed across another run, and New Palestine went to their third pitcher of the game, bringing in Joshua Jaques with the bases loaded and a 9-0 deficit. Jaques forced a flyout to right to end the inning.
The Flashes (10-9) got a double and two-run home run in the fourth inning, providing the final margin of victory. The Dragons got their only hits of the game after falling behind by 11 runs, as Jacob Bain singled to lead off the fourth inning and Grant Weigand singled with his team down to its last strike in the fifth.
That was all the Dragons offense could muster.
“It’s a battle and a war. We lost the battle tonight,” Lyons said. “We’re done making excuses and we’re not making any more. We’re going to try to get back on it tomorrow night. Lose the battle but win the war.”
Tonight the Dragons look to bounce back from two defeats this week in a doubleheader against conference foe Pendleton Heights.
One win would give the Dragons a share of the Hoosier Heritage Conference title. Two would clinch it for themselves.
“They give us a banner for winning a conference, so we put a priority on that,” Lyons said. “Tomorrow night we have a chance to win a title. We’ve got one week left and we’ve got to get healthy mentally and physically, and I think if they come back like we know they can, then we’ll be all right.”
