LINDEN – The brisk, cold wind Saturday afternoon at Charger Field may have symbolized Southmont baseball team’s cold bats. But it may have been the hot pitching of Jarrod Kirsch that took the stage instead.
The North Montgomery junior stepped up the performance again and threw a five-inning no hitter, the fourth of his career, at the Mounties for the team’s second such performance in three games. Cade Cole completed a perfect game masterpiece three days before.
North (9-4, 5-0 Sagamore Conference) moved its home record to 6-1 with a 14-0 shutout.
Kirsch’s last outing was a two-hit gem against Danville. Senior catcher Dylan Braun likes what he sees from his staff.
“We play really well together and have each other’s backs,” Braun said. “The pitching has been great. Everyone is hitting their spots, not too many mistakes on the mound and all are doing what they’re supposed to do.”
Kirsch struck out 14 of the 15 outs to give him 47 K’s on the season and lower his earned run average to 0.86.
“They’re pretty good pitchers themselves,” Braun added. “I don’t have to say much. We talk about what we’re going to do and what the plan is.”
The Chargers had to get imaginative to score runs as South pitching struggled. Four pitchers combined for eight hit batters and nine walks. North had four hits, all singles.
Freshman Cale Chadd, the final Mountie thrower, entered the contest in the third and helped stop the bleeding already down 14-0.
“You give up four hits you’d think you’d be in the game,” South coach Bill Woods said. “When you walk nine and have eight hit batters that’s the tale of the tape. What we took away from it is you have to throw strikes. Offensively, (Kirsch) threw well and we have to put the ball in play.”
Charger coach Matt Voorhees commended his players discipline at the plate
“I know that’s not what Southmont wanted from their pitching today, but I commended our guys for having good at bats,” North coach Matt Voorhees said. “You’re going to have those games when you have to be patient at the plate and wait for your pitch. We worked a lot of 3-2 counts and fouled off a lot of pitches to get there.”
North was coming off a nine-inning contest Friday, a 16-10 loss to Harrison.
“After the marathon we talked about the focus it was going to have to take,” Voorhees said. “We knew the weather conditions may be worse than Friday. I was up front and said whatever music it takes to come out with energy for batting practice, blare it because we have to be ready for the county and conference opponent.”
North sent 14 batters to the plate in the first inning and plated eight runs. Kirsch was hit by a pitch while Ross Dyson and Brookes Walters walked to start. One out later designated hitter Corbin Meadows and Braun were hit to drive in Kirsch and Dyson. Cole then singled to drive in two and the rout was on. Kirsch, on his second at bat of the inning, also drove in two with a pull hit to right field. Before that happened South (4-7, 0-5 SAC) starter Carter Hubble was pulled in favor of senior Mason Hall.
The home team added three tallies in both the second and third.
South’s only base-runner was heavy hitter Hall, who reached on an error in the fourth inning. That broke an eight-game hitting streak for the state leader in home runs.
Freshman Gunnar Shirk also took to the mound for the Mounties, a sign of the team’s future.
“Defensively, we played well at times,” Woods said. “We had four freshmen in there at one time. We will learn and grow.”
South fell to 1-4 on the road with the loss and gets ready for sectional opponent Greencastle and county/conference opponent Crawfordsville. South also is now without Adam Cox, who injured a hamstring recently. He’s going through rehab, according to Woods and was on crutches Saturday. But the rest of the team needs to fill in the blanks.
“That was part of the strategy early when this one got away early is pull everyone back some for North round two (May 19). We may not show Greencastle much, but we’ll be ready for Crawfordsville.”
North heads to West Lafayette before a home and home against SAC opponent Frankfort. Voorhees looks for more of the same from his team.
“It’s easier to compete when you have a pitcher on the mound you have a lot of confidence in and the pitcher has a lot of confidence in his defense. We count on that and be ready to hit the ball.”
