LINDEN - Both North Montgomery and Parke Heritage were doing some confidence building in a Chargers 8-3 non-conference baseball game.
The Wolves, who fall to 3-2, are building a young team toward the postseason.
The Chargers, who move to 4-1, are building momentum as the Sagamore Conference schedule starts Tuesday.
Both teams took advantage of unearned runs, but in the end, North picked up the extra hits that gives them the win.
The Chargers also got a solid starting pitching performance from Austin Sulc, as the junior went five innings and had no earned runs.
“Austin was discouraged after pitching last Friday against Seeger,” North coach Matt Voorhees said. “He threw a lot of good pitches, and was just so close on lots of them. We as a coaching staff had a ton of confidence in him, and he just did a great job on the mound tonight. Aside from the one error he got a good defensive effort behind him, and he stayed poised on the mound. He is such an intense competitor. We also need him because we have five games this week and we need his innings.”
Sulc picked up the win, throwing 70 pitches, and walking only one while striking out five. He scattered three hits, and aside from a dropped fly ball that led to all three Wolves runs in the fourth, he would have had a clean sheet.
Cade Cole came in to throw the last two innings, and picked up the save. The sophomore faced the six minimum hitters, striking out three.
“Cole hadn’t thrown since opening day,” Voorhees said. “We really needed him to get some work, because we will certainly need him through the conference season. He is such a great kid. He had the bad concussion in football, and has put in the time, effort and work to become a good baseball player. That commitment is paying dividends, for him and for the team.”
Cole was also in the offensive mix, reaching base twice. He scored the Chargers first run in the first inning and courtesy runner Roman Utterback scored in his spot in the three-run sixth.
North got solo runs in the first, the second and fourth, put a two-spot up in the fifth and three in the sixth. They took advantage of two PH errors to score three times.
“North Montgomery is a big-boy, grown-up team,” Parke Heritage coach Mitch Simmons said. “They play good baseball, and I was pleased with how we played tonight. We were deep in our pitching roster, and offensively we put the ball in play. We are a young team with sophomores everywhere (there are nine on the roster) and I know we have to live with a mistake here and there. Our goal is to be good by Memorial Day. We are five games in and I know this is a really competitive bunch. We were down 6-1 late to Riverton Parke Saturday and came back to win. These guys want to play, they want to compete. My job is to get them from ‘want to’ into ‘how to’ in about the next 50 days.”
The Wolves started Logan Bowles and the junior went three-plus innings. He was relieved by Brendan McAmis, who picked up the loss, and also by Jerrid Graves.
The Chargers also got a two-hit, two run offensive night from Gage Galloway. Jarrod Kirsch also had a pair of hits, including a double in the second that scored a run. Corbin Meadows had a pair of RBI with a single in the sixth.
“We got a lot of guys in,”Voorhees noted. “Gage Edwards came in and made some plays and got on base twice. We hit some hard line drives, but we are still not getting many of them through. We are not adjusting real well at the plate to the lower velocity pitchers. We have to get on that back foot.”
The Wolves have started conference play, and are back in WRC action with a doubleheaders Saturday against Covington.
The Chargers test Sagamore waters for the first time Tuesday with a home game against Western Boone, followed by a trip to WeBo Wednesday.
“The Sagamore is a great 3A conference,” Voorhees said. “There are ranked teams all the time, and all the teams are so good every year. It’s a dogfight every season. We feel we can be contenders, and we have confidence in what we have. I know it will be like every year, with nearly every team in contention until the end. It is a lot of fun in the Sagamore Conference.”
