Northmor tops Cardington

One big inning paced host Northmor past Cardington in a Wednesday KMAC baseball game.

The Golden Knights put together a five-run third inning that provided all of the game’s scoring as they improved to 7-1 on the season in bouncing back from a Tuesday loss to East Knox.

“We did some good things that inning situationally,” said head coach Buck Workman. We got a squeeze down and Isaac Black had a big two-strike, two-out hit to knock in two runs, which was huge. We haven’t been doing much of that. We’re throwing the ball well and fielding the ball well — we just haven’t been able to put those big innings together like that.”

Grant Bentley led off the frame with a double and Cole Cuffman followed by running out a bunt to put runners on the corners. Drew Hammond then got Northmor on the board by bringing in Bentley on a sacrifice fly. A single by Garrett Harvey put runners on the corners again for Ethan Hinton.

Hinton hit a ground ball that brought in Cuffman and also reached first base safely due to a Pirate miscue in the field. Leading 2-0, the Golden Knights added a third run on a sacrifice bunt by Trevor Brubaker. After Bryce Cooper drew a walk to put two runners on bass, Black would add his two-run hit to give Northmor a five-run advantage.

Cardington coach Ryan Goetzman noted that his team struggled in the field in that inning. Not only did they have that error, but also let a foul pop-up by Hammond hit the ground shortly before his sacrifice fly.

“(Pitcher A.J.) Hall and I just had a discussion of how many earned he gave up,” said the coach. “He thinks one, I think two or three, but either way, when you don’t score a run, it doesn’t matter how many are earned or unearned…they scored more than us. A miscue on a fly ball on the first base line and a routine ground ball that was not handled and it blows up. You can’t do that. Northmor’s a good team. You just can’t do that against these teams.”

Outside of that inning, Hall pitched five scoreless frames and finished with six strikeouts. For Northmor, Brubaker pitched a complete game shutout and also recorded six Ks. Workman noted that his team has been able to rely on Brubaker and seniors Hammond and Bentley to carry the squad on the mound.

“We’ve only had to use those three because they’ve done the job every time out so far,” he said. “That makes it nice as a coach. You know what you get and if we go out and play defense behind them, we have a chance.”

Goetzman added that when playing against a KMAC rival, you have to expect good pitching.

“Brubaker did a great job,” he said. “Sometimes you just get beat by somebody because he throws well and Brubaker did. We couldn’t string stuff together, so kudos to him. In our league, you’re going to see a good arm every time you come out in conference play. I think this is one of those years you look at where everybody has an arm or two that can beat anybody.”

The Pirates did have a few chances to score, but just couldn’t string together multiple hits. Denton Garrison and Merek McClure had one-out doubles in the first and seventh innings, respectively, but would not be brought home.

Worse still for Cardington was the fifth inning. Caden Dewitt and Abner Edgell opened with back-to-back singles to put two on and nobody out. However a bunt attempt wound up being lined directly to Brubaker, who then turned a double play at second base, While the Pirates would add a single by James Fiant, they wouldn’t be able to score.

“Trevor did a nice job coming and getting that and Grant was aware and he was there for the throw, so that was a big squelcher,” said Workman. “I think they were down towards the bottom of the order. They roll that to the top with the bases loaded or whatever and it’s a whole different ball game.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS