Published: May 05, 2008 11:59 pm            

Big Four baseball: South wins a ‘classic ballgame’ to keep North from sweeping

TERRE HAUTE — After a third straight high school baseball game by his Terre Haute North team had come down to the final pitch with the tying run at third base, coach Shawn Turner of the Patriots was in no mood to quibble about Monday’s result.

“A classic ballgame,” Turner said, moments after his Patriots had been held off 7-6 by visiting Terre Haute South. “We’ve been fortunate to play in four classic games in the past few days, and we came out on the upside of three of them so we’re having some hints that we are getting better. But we’re not good enough to strand 13 runners and still win.”

The Patriots had escaped from seventh-inning jams to win twice Saturday at the Big Four Classic, and also beat South in the first game of their Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference last week by scoring five times after being one strike away from defeat.

On Friday, the Patriots trailed 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh but had the winning run at the plate with their third and fourth hitters coming up. But although Joe Meggs cut the lead to one run with an RBI infield out, South freshman A.J. Reed was able to end the game with a full-count strikeout.

“The big thing was, we found a way to win today,” coach Kyle Kraemer of the Braves said afterward. “Earlier this season, we’d been finding ways to lose, so I hope this one turns things around for us … I’m extremely happy for our seniors.”

Both North-South games count in the MIC standings, but only the

second of the two count toward the Big Four standings — making South the winner of that tournament, both teams finishing with 2-1 records — and also decides which team keeps the traveling trophy.

North had the early lead, scoring four times after two were out in the bottom of the first. With Mark Merrill aboard after a one-out walk, Brandon Dorsett kept the inning alive with a single, Jared Eller added a run-scoring single, Parker Fulkerson’s fly ball fell for a two-run double and Shawn Walker added another run-scoring double.

North wasted chances to put the game away, however, leaving the bases loaded in each of the next two innings on its way to those 13 LOBs, and in the top of the fourth it was the Braves who couldn’t be stopped after two out.

Reed led off that inning with a walk and Ryan Hunt hit a one-out single. Another walk kept the inning alive, Brock Lough’s grounder went for an infield hit, Koby Kraemer was hit by a pitch to force in a second run and Evan Luken dropped a soft fly ball into left for a two-run single that tied the game.

“The first three or four innings were pretty boring,” Kyle Kraemer said later when asked about the game’s tense finish. “But in this series, what would you expect [other than a nail-biter]?”

South took the lead in the top of the fifth, again with two out. Hunt reached on an error, Justin Ferrell got the second of his three hits, and the ball got past the Patriot left fielder to allow Hunt to race home.

North loaded the bases with none out in the bottom of the inning but Reed, on in relief, got a pair of strikeouts on either side of Meggs’ game-tying sacrifice fly.

South took the lead for good in the sixth. Koby Kraemer was hit by a pitch for the second time, Luken bunted him to second, Zach Odum got an infield hit, Reed hit a tie-breaking single and Odum scored on a wild pitch. Andrew Gauer opened the bottom of the seventh with a single, and Merrill also singled with one out, but Reed got out of the jam with just one run scoring.

“I felt strong today and was ready to pitch,” said the freshman, who had been the starter but not involved in the decision against the Patriots last week. “I feel honored, really [to pitch in both North-South games as a freshman]. The coaches showed they have a lot of confidence in me.”

“We had a tough game [with North] on Thursday, so we had to come out stronger,” added Luken. “We struggled at the beginning, but we never quit. We got some timely hitting and some decent pitching … those big hits in the fourth and fifth innings really set the tone.”

Luken brings three gloves to every game and used all of them Monday. He started the game in right field, pitched an inning of relief, and finished the game at first base. “I’ve been moved around a lot,” he agreed. “The only positions I haven’t played this year are second base and catcher.”

“We didn’t start the game off real well, but I’m extremely proud of the kids for battling back,” coach Kraemer said. “We came back from being down 7-0 against Northview [on Saturday] too, but we weren’t able to pull it out.”

“There was good baserunning, good defensive play, poor defensive play, some good pitching, some shaky pitching … two teams competed tonight,” Turner said. “We’ll probably get the opportunity to see [the Braves] again at tourney time, and maybe we’ll have another epic battle.

“But I think both teams — and I don’t think coach Kraemer would disagree — have a long way to go to get where they need to be,” Turner added.



South 7, North 6

TH South ab r h bi TH North ab r h bi

Kraemer ss 2 1 1 1 Pilipovich lf 2 0 0 0

Luken rf-p-1b 4 0 2 2 Bledsoe ph-lf 2 0 1 0

Odum 2b 4 1 1 0 Merrill 2b 4 1 1 0

Reed 1b-p 3 1 1 1 Meggs c 2 0 0 2

Toney pr 0 0 0 0 Dorsett rf-p 4 1 1 0

Buske dh 4 0 0 0 Eller 1b 4 1 1 1

Hayes 3b 0 0 0 0 Fulkerson 3b 3 1 1 2

Hunt c 4 2 1 0 Walker p 4 0 1 1

Ferrell p-cf 4 0 3 0 O’Laughlin p 0 0 0 0

Duggins cf-rf 1 1 0 0 Bailey rf 0 0 0 0

Lough lf 3 1 1 1 Wilguess ss 4 1 2 0

Goldman lf 1 0 0 0 Sumner dh 1 0 0 0

Gauer cf-pr 1 1 1 0

Totals 30 7 10 5 Totals 31 6 9 6

Terre Haute South 000 412 0 — 7

Terre Haute North 400 010 1 — 6

E — Merrill, Kraemer 2, Odum, Eller, Bledsoe. DP — THN 1. LOB — THS 6, THN 13. 2B — Fulkerson, Walker. SB — Fulkerson. CS — Luken, Walker. SH — Luken, Duggins. SF — Meggs.

IP H R ER BB SO

Terre Haute South

Ferrell 3 6 4 4 4 4

Luken 1 1 1 1 2 2

Reed (W, 3-1) 3 2 1 1 1 4

Terre Haute North

Walker 42/3 7 5 4 3 3

O’Laughlin (L, 0-3) 11/3 2 2 2 0 0

Dorsett 1 1 0 0 1 1

Ferrell pitched to 1 batter in 4th; Luken pitched to 2 batters in 5th.

WP — Ferrell, Luken, O’Laughlin, Dorsett, Reed. HBP — by Walker (Kraemer), by Ferrell (Meggs), by O’Laughlin (Kraemer). T — 2:30.

Next games — South (10-10, 3-6 in Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference) has a 6 p.m. home game today against Paris. North (10-12, 4-6) plays Friday at Mooresville.

        

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