VEEDERSBURG — North Montgomery and Fountain Central got the prime example of early-season baseball as the Chargers move to 2-0 with an 8-5 win.
North’s Jarrod Kirsch had a perfect game going for North into the fifth, had a no-hitter with one out in the seventh, but by the time the dust settled and the sun started sinking in the west, the Mustangs, who fall to 0-3, had the tying run at the plate after trailing 8-0 going into that last at-bat.
Except for hitting two batters in the fifth, Kirsch was cruising.
Striking out 11 without a walk, reporters were looking up how many no-hitters the junior had. (The answer is three).
When he lost the no-no in the seventh, Chargers coach Matt Voorhees went immediately to the pen, and things got dicey from there.
In the end, FC got five runs across and had the tying run at the plate when the third North pitcher of the inning, Corbin Meadows, came in, threw one pitch and got a fly ball to end the game.
“We are two games into the season,” Voorhees noted. “We’ve been outside maybe five times. What we got showed tonight was resiliency. We bent but we didn’t break. We overcame some adversity, from a couple balls that didn’t go our way, to a couple close calls. We talk all the time about not being satisfied, and we played through that adversity. Jarrod (Kirsch) did a stellar job, and he didn’t get the no-hitter, but at the end, it goes as a win.”
The Chargers put all eight runs on the board in the middle innings, with three in the third and five in the fourth.
The top of the order, much like in the opening win over North Putnam, came up big.
Kirsch, Cade Cole, and Brookes Walters each scored in each inning, while courtesy runner Thomas Laffoon scored once in the fifth, as did Roman Utterback.
Walters, Ross Dyson and Dylan Braun had RBIs in the third, while Walters (2) and Braun (1) had RBIs in the fifth.
The Mustangs had five players each score once in the seventh. Kyle Slinker got the first hit, followed by Luke Foxworthy, Andrew Woodrow, Zach Guerin, and Brayden Prickett. Guerin drove in two runs, as did Prickett, with a double.
“We’ve had the bare minimum number of practices,” Mustangs coach Adam Acton said, noting that several players got to baseball late because of the success of the basketball team. “We’re behind in prep, but we sure are not using that as an excuse. The guys are working hard, and they are a great bunch of guys. There are so many little things in baseball that are so important, and we’ve had no time to work on any of that yet. We didn’t quit, Kirsch is as good a pitcher as we will see all season, and we had a chance to tie it at the end. When we get up to speed, I know we can be a good team.”
