PENDLETON — Already a tight race for the Hoosier Heritage Conference baseball championship, New Palestine was trying to make it tighter in its battle with first-place Pendleton Heights on Friday at Bill Stoudt Field.
Behind the pitching of Jack Walker, the Dragons won Game 1, 5-0, to get within one game of the league leaders, but the hosts came back to take the nightcap 3-2.
“We’re leaving here disappointed,” New Palestine coach Shawn Lyons said. “We know if we make a routine play and a pitch here we sweep and we’re back with a chance for our conference, which we value so much.”
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With two conference games remaining, the Dragons are now two games back of co-leaders Pendleton Heights and Greenfield-Central. If the Dragons would have swept, they would have been onegame out with the Arabians, chasing the Cougars next week.
Lyons was talking about the Arabians’ three-run fifth inning. Only one ball left the infield, a two-run single by Ben Richards to put Pendleton Heights ahead 3-1.
With one out in the fifth, a walk, errant pickoff throw and error put runners on the corners. Kamden Earley laid down a bunt single to tie the game, 1-1. After Dragons’ pitcher Zach Neligh fanned Evan Douglas for the second out, Richards, who left Game 1 when he was hit by a foul ball while standing in the dugout, lined a single to center field to score two runs.
“We had to win that second game. If we didn’t win that second game, we put ourselves in a big hole,” Pendleton Heights coach Travis Keesling said. “That would have put us in a bind.”
New Palestine had taken a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Colby Jenkins reached on a walk, moved to second on a Neligh single and scored on a Walker double.
Down 3-1, the Dragons scored one in the fifth. With two outs, Noah Mack singled. Eric Roudebush drew a walk and Jacob Bain followed with an RBI-single.
Unfortunately for the Dragons, they were not able to score on some other ideal opportunities. In the sixth, Grant Wiegand led off with a double and moved to third on a passed ball. Pendleton Heights retired the next three hitters and Wiegand was unable to score.
In the fourth, the Dragons had runners at second and third with one out, but Game 2 winner Walker Stull followed with a pair of strikeouts.
“We played clean defense until halfway into game two,” Lyons said. “Game one, we picked it. Game two, we made some great plays, but you can’t lose one facet of the game. You can’t go AWOL and expect to win a tight ballgame.”
Walker was dominant in the opener. He had a no-hitter for five and two-thirds innings and finished with 13 strikeouts, tying his season-high in strikeouts set last Friday in a win against Delta. It was his third straight double-figure strikeout game. He fanned 10 against Greenfield-Central on April 26.
“Jack Walker pitched the best game he’s pitched in high school,” Lyons said. “He had command of his fastball. He could throw both sides of the plate. He was economical.”
“He pitched an amazing game,” Keesling said of the Dragons pitcher. “He mixed up his pitches when he needed to and he reared back and fired when he needed to.”
The Dragons scored four of their five runs in the first three innings, including two in the first.
Jenkins opened the game by being hit by pitch. Neligh followed with a double. Jenkins scored the first run on a Walker ground out. Mack followed with an RBI-single.
Mack went 4-for-4 in the opener. He singled and scored in the third and had an RBI-double in the seventh.
It was more than enough for Walker, who struck out the side in both the first and fourth innings. He had two strikeouts each in the third, fifth and sixth innings.
In the fifth inning with two outs, Pendleton Heights’ Dalton Mollenkopf hit a double to break up the no-hitter. Walker followed by striking out Rene Casas to end the inning.
“The biggest thing is, we won the conference last year and got beat in the sectional championship game,” Lyons said. “Pendleton and Yorktown finished behind us and both won their sectional. So, the biggest prize is still out there and we control our own destiny.
“We’ve got five games in six days and are going to get ready for a difficult sectional.”
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Game 1
New Palestine 5, Pendleton Heights 0
NP (12-10, 7-4);211;000;1;—;5;7;1
PH (12-7, 8-3);000;000;x;—;0;2;2
WP: Jack Walker. LP: Luke Hargrave.
2B: Zach Neligh, Noah Mack (NP); Dalton Mollenkopf (PH). RBI: Noah Mack 2, Jack Walker, Colby Jenkins, Grant Wiegand (NP).
Notable: Noah Mack 4-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI; Jack Walker WP, 7 IP, 2 H, 13 K, RBI (NP).
–
Game 2
Pendleton Heights 3, New Palestine 2
PH (12-7, 8-3);000;030;0;—;3;4;0
NP (12-10, 7-4);001;010;0;—;2;7;3
WP: Walker Stull. LP: Zach Neligh.
2B: Jack Walker, Grant Wiegand (NP). RBI: Jack Walker, Jacob Bain (NP); Ben Richards 2, Kamden Earley (PH).
Notable: Grant Wiegand 2-for-4.
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