DOVER — North Montgomery used another dominant pitching performance to ride to a 6-1 Sagamore Conference win over Western Boone on Wednesday.
The Chargers (5-0, 2-0 SAC) remained perfect on the season large in part by Jakob Kirsch’s one-hit effort in six innings pitched. The junior allowed a single unearned run, walked three, and struck-out six. He didn’t allow a baserunner until the fourth inning.
“Jakob Kirsch had a dominating performance, coming out with just one hit. Six strikeouts and only three walks. He really kept them off-balance with his curveball and Jacob Braun called a good game for him back there,” North Montgomery coach Ryan Nuppnau said.
Offensively, the Chargers weren’t flashy, but got the job done — scoring two in the first, adding a run in the second, and three runs of insurance in the sixth.
Kirsch walked to lead off the game and stole second and third before scoring on an infield single from Jarrod Kirsch, who was the lone Charger with two hits. Junior Brayden Martin, who started at shortstop and is working back into things after missing the first week of the season, also had a RBI hit in the first inning.
Brookes Walters and Gage Galloway helped break things open with back-to-back hits in the sixth.
“We didn’t hit the ball overly well today,” Nuppnau said. “Brunty threw pretty well, but we were able to capitalize on some of their mistakes early on. It’s neat to see that our pitching is solid and we are finding different ways to score if our bats aren’t alive as much as we want them to be.”
Tyler Brunty took the loss for the Stars, allowing six runs on five hits in five and 1/3 innings pitched.
The Stars put two on base with nobody out in the sixth, but Kirsch retired three-straight to end the inning including a pair of strikeouts. Freshman Ross Dyson relieved Kirsch in the seventh, and struck-out three to seal the victory.
North Montgomery will look to continue its fast start at Covington on Friday, before traveling to Loeb Stadium to play Lafayette Jeff on Saturday.
“The biggest surprise is that you never know with especially a young team you’re nervous with the first couple games when you score big and 10-run teams, you’re kind of nervous that they may think this is always how it’s going to be,” Nuppnau said. “but they’ve come in every game with respect for the other team, respect to the game and play every pitch and every at-bat as if it matters, and having that kind of composure and demeanor for such a young team is really neat to see.”
