North Montgomery (4-1) defeated Covington (2-4) Monday in the home opener 6-3. And, like their other wins, the victory was spearheaded by Charger pitchers. The offense was unable to get a big hit several times when presented with the opportunity to break the game wide open, three Charger hurlers kept the Trojan at bey.
With games against Sagamore Conference rivals Danville and Southmont, Charger Coach Matt Voorhees planned to have his pitchers throw no more than 35 pitches. The low pitch count allows his team to have their full pitching staff available for this week’s remaining games.
“We got some very good pitching tonight from our pitchers and we were able to keep them eligible to pitch the rest of the week,” Voorhees said. “I was the most proud of our three pitchers and thought they all did a good job of pounding the strike zone.”
Senior Austin Sulc opened the game on the mound and pitched three scoreless innings and recorded six strikeouts. The righty only surrendered one hit to the 11 batters he faced.
In the second inning North Montgomery plated three runs on only one hit by senior Noah Hopkins. The Chargers received help when Trojan pitcher Kyren Hill walked three batters and hit two batters with pitches. Add an error, and the Chargers took a 3-0 lead.
Senior Roman Utterback took over on the mound for the next two innings. Utterback faced six batters and struck out five batters in the third and fourth innings. Meanwhile, North Montgomery was able to scratch another run across the plate when senior Gage Edwards scored on a bases loaded walk.
Edwards took over on the mound for the final three frames. He did allow three unearned runs in the fourth inning when the Chargers committed two errors. The three runs trimmed the North lead to 4-3.
It did not take long for the Chargers to stretch their lead. Freshman Isaiah Hopkins’ two-rbi double put his team up 6-3.
During the game, North Montgomery stranded nine base runners. In all but one inning, the Chargers stranded runners in scoring position.
Totals for the game showed North hurlers recorded 12 strikeouts while surrendering just one walk.
North only recorded six hits but earned eight bases on balls to keep runners on base throughout the game.
“We only had three strikeouts and we did hit the ball, only it was right at the defense,” Voorhees said.
North Montgomery has used seven pitchers this season and has recorded a team ERA of 1.41.
The Chargers will entertain SAC for Danville tonight with a 6 p.m. game time.
