NEW PALESTINE — The ability to manufacture runs, play sound defense, and get quality pitching, or in simpler terms, just play New Palestine baseball.
That’s exactly what the Dragons did in an 8-0 win and Hoosier Heritage Conference sweep of Pendleton Heights at home on Wednesday evening.
On Tuesday, the Dragons took game No. 1 in similar fashion 8-1.
“I think we’re heading in the right direction. Our margin for error is not as large because we don’t have the big hitters or the guys that throw 90, but we play baseball the right way,” New Palestine head coach Shawn Lyons said. “We’re going to throw strikes, D-up, and if we do that we’re going to be right in every game we play.”
The Dragons’ offense recorded nine hits on Wednesday — all singles — to Pendleton Heights’ seven, but in the column on the scoreboard that matters the most, New Palestine was far ahead.
The small-ball of New Palestine was at the forefront early after an Adam Rickey leadoff walk and stolen base setup Wes Stiller for a first-inning RBI-single.
The Dragons added two more runs in the second on two singles and two errors. Wyatt Matheis recorded the first hit, and courtesy runner Brock Whitaker later scored on a passed ball. After reaching on an error, Nolan Cox scored on a Stiller sacrifice fly.
In the third, Blaine Nunnally scored the Dragons’ fourth run on a walk, two stolen bases and a passed ball.
And in the fourth, New Palestine doubled its run total on four singles, capped off by a Matheis two-run hit.
Stiller led the Dragons in hits and RBIs with three, Matheis and Cox recorded two hits, and Nunnally and Rickey each scored two runs.
“Some nights you don’t have extra base hits, but you’ve got to be able to hit-and-run, bunt, steal, read dirtballs, and take advantage of any miscues that they commit,” Lyons said. “With our speed and athleticism, we did that.”
While the offense took advantage of Pendleton Heights miscues, the Dragons defense made none.
Pendleton Heights had runners reach second and third in the first inning, but a ground out to Rickey at shortstop ended the threat.
In the second, two more runners reached base before another ground out left them stranded, and a double play in the third helped starting pitcher Brayden Marrow work around a leadoff single.
“We’ve got a few different options in our back pocket, and our (pitching) staff is heading in the right direction. But with the exception of Blaine, our staff pitches to contact so without a great defense playing behind us, we’ll struggle,” Lyons said. “The last two nights we haven’t made an error, so we’re excited about our defense right now and our pitchers have been throwing strikes.”
While the defense helped him through the first three frames, Marrow turned things up in the fourth. Over the next three innings, he allowed just one hit and struck out six of the 12 batters he faced.
On the night, he threw six innings, gave up six hits, walked two and struck out seven.
“There’s a testament there that Brayden got better as the game went on. They were barreling up a lot of balls early because he didn’t have a secondary pitch,” Lyons said. “After that third inning, he established his curveball, and they couldn’t sit on his fastball. He got six strikeouts after that, and it was all because he established the curveball.”
Cox relieved Marrow in the seventh and gave up one hit and struck out two.
The shutout came a day after Nunnally pitched a complete-game and allowed just one run on four hits.
Over the two-game series, the Dragons recorded 17 hits — all singles — to Pendleton Heights 11, but outscored the Arabians 16-1.
New Palestine travels to Cathedral today, with first pitch scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
New Palestine 8, Pendleton Heights 0
Pendleton Heights (9-10, 4-8);000;000;0; — ;0;7;2
New Palestine (15-7, 8-4);121;400;x; — ;8;9;0
Jalen Jordan, Spencer Leppink (4) and Nate Gilmet. Brayden Marrow, Nolan Cox (7) and Wyatt Matheis. WP: Brayden Morrow (2-0). LP: Jalen Jordan (2-3).
