Efficient Augustine Deals NorthWood 1-0 Loss
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
The chart offered numbers, cold, hard statistics.
And the numbers put up by Warsaw junior left-hander Adam Augustine were off the chart.
He had no way of knowing it before Monday's baseball game against NorthWood, but fellow Warsaw starter Craig Lankford, from his spot in the dugout, was about to keep one of the easiest pitching charts of his life.
Augustine, who last week blanked Wawasee 1-0, needed just 79 pitches in shutting out NorthWood 1-0 in a Northern Lakes Conference game. NorthWood dropped to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the NLC, while Warsaw improved to 5-4 overall and 3-0 in the NLC.
That the teams played a 1-0 game wasn't surprising as the pitchers were aided by a 20-mph wind blowing in from center field.
Augustine's impressive numbers didn't end at 79. He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 23 hitters. He threw 60 strikes and only 19 balls in his complete-game win.
"In a seven-inning high school game, you expect 90 to 110 pitches," Warsaw coach Will Shepherd said. "Anything below 90 is gravy. Anything below 80 is off the scale."
Augustine (3-2) allowed three hits, walked none and struck out a career-high 11 batters. He retired the first nine hitters in order before allowing his first hit, a double by Josh Snyder in the top of the fourth inning.
"(Augustine) had a good moving fastball," NorthWood coach Doug Gerber said. "He kept the ball away. He came inside, and when he came inside, he jammed us. He kept the ball down. He did not give us many pitches to do anything with."
His curveball had the Panthers fishing, and his fastball had them overmatched.
But nearly matching him pitch for pitch through the first four innings was NorthWood right-handed senior starter Nate Brown, who took the complete-game loss. Brown (3-1) blanked the Tigers for four innings by changing speeds to keep the hitters off-balance, but they scored the one and only run they would need in the fifth.
Augustine looped a double down the right-field line on an inside-out swing. The next hitter, senior Gabe Koser, the No. 8 hitter in the lineup, bunted through a pitch for a strike and fell behind in the count 0-2.
But Koser atoned for the missed opportunity by lashing a double over the head of center fielder Matt Stick, who misjudged the ball. Stick broke in when he should have broken back, and the ball sailed over his head, despite the strong wind blowing in. Koser's double scored Derek Himes, who pinch ran for Augustine.
"After (Stick) broke in, he told me he took his eye off it," Gerber said. "Then he looked up and said it was hit harder than he expected."
The Panthers were determined to make Warsaw's 1-0 lead short-lived.
NorthWood's Jamie Hill started the top of the sixth by reaching first when his routine ground ball went through the legs of Warsaw second baseman Brandon Grubbs. One out later, Hill headed for second. As Grubbs went to cover the base, Snyder singled to the spot Grubbs had just vacated, sending Hill to third.
With one out and runners on first and third, Brown tried to squeeze. He bunted through the ball for a strike, and Hill, already headed for home, was caught in a rundown and tagged out. Brown was caught looking on the next pitch for a called strike three, ending NorthWood's threat and the inning.
"They missed the squeeze," Shepherd said. "Biggest play of the game."
Said Gerber: "We were trying to squeeze there to get the run in. We needed that run. We needed to get it tied, because then that puts the pressure back on (Warsaw). If we scored there, we would have had a tie game and a runner on second with our three and four hitters up."
But the Panthers didn't score, and Augustine, who only seems get more unhittable with each passing game, had another complete-game shutout.
"I think he was better than that (Wawasee) game," Shepherd said. "His stuff was really outstanding. He got ahead of hitters and stayed out of the middle of the plate. He put on a clinic again. NorthWood is a good hitting team, and he shut them down.
"He's not the biggest, strongest kid. He doesn't throw 88 miles per hour, but he stays out of the middle of the plate and hides the ball well."
The pitching chart told Shepherd all he needed to know. With a tidy 79 pitches, Augustine was off the scale.
WARSAW 1, NORTHWOOD 0
NorthWood (7-3) 000 000 0 - 0
Warsaw (5-4) 000 010 x - 1
NorthWood ab r h rbi
Snyder 2b 3 0 2 0
Brown p 3 0 0 0
Doty ss 3 0 0 0
Hoover 1b 3 0 0 0
Stick cf 3 0 0 0
Culp c 2 0 1 0
Flickinger pr 0 0 0 0
Fink rf 2 0 0 0
Hill lf 2 0 0 0
Sanders 3b 2 0 0 0
Totals 23 0 3 0
Warsaw ab h r rbi
Walmer ss 3 0 1 0
Grubbs 2b 2 0 0 0
Milton ph 1 0 0 0
Siebenmorgen c 3 0 2 0
Golden pr 0 0 0 0
Barger 3b 3 0 0 0
Nelson 1b 2 0 0 0
Stogsdill lf 1 0 0 0
Augustine p 2 0 1 0
Himes pr 0 1 0 0
Koser rf 2 0 1 1
Richardson cf 1 0 0 0
Totals 20 1 5 1
E-Grubbs, Sanders. DP-NorthWood 2. LOB-NorthWood 2, Warsaw 3. 2B-Augustine,
Koser, Siebenmorgen, Snyder. CS-Golden, Richardson, Walmer, Hill, Snyder.
NorthWood ip h r er bb so
Brown L, 3-1 6 5 1 1 1 4
Warsaw ip h r er bb so
Augustine W, 3-2 7 3 0 0 0 11
HBP-Richardson (by Brown). [[In-content Ad]]
The chart offered numbers, cold, hard statistics.
And the numbers put up by Warsaw junior left-hander Adam Augustine were off the chart.
He had no way of knowing it before Monday's baseball game against NorthWood, but fellow Warsaw starter Craig Lankford, from his spot in the dugout, was about to keep one of the easiest pitching charts of his life.
Augustine, who last week blanked Wawasee 1-0, needed just 79 pitches in shutting out NorthWood 1-0 in a Northern Lakes Conference game. NorthWood dropped to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the NLC, while Warsaw improved to 5-4 overall and 3-0 in the NLC.
That the teams played a 1-0 game wasn't surprising as the pitchers were aided by a 20-mph wind blowing in from center field.
Augustine's impressive numbers didn't end at 79. He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 23 hitters. He threw 60 strikes and only 19 balls in his complete-game win.
"In a seven-inning high school game, you expect 90 to 110 pitches," Warsaw coach Will Shepherd said. "Anything below 90 is gravy. Anything below 80 is off the scale."
Augustine (3-2) allowed three hits, walked none and struck out a career-high 11 batters. He retired the first nine hitters in order before allowing his first hit, a double by Josh Snyder in the top of the fourth inning.
"(Augustine) had a good moving fastball," NorthWood coach Doug Gerber said. "He kept the ball away. He came inside, and when he came inside, he jammed us. He kept the ball down. He did not give us many pitches to do anything with."
His curveball had the Panthers fishing, and his fastball had them overmatched.
But nearly matching him pitch for pitch through the first four innings was NorthWood right-handed senior starter Nate Brown, who took the complete-game loss. Brown (3-1) blanked the Tigers for four innings by changing speeds to keep the hitters off-balance, but they scored the one and only run they would need in the fifth.
Augustine looped a double down the right-field line on an inside-out swing. The next hitter, senior Gabe Koser, the No. 8 hitter in the lineup, bunted through a pitch for a strike and fell behind in the count 0-2.
But Koser atoned for the missed opportunity by lashing a double over the head of center fielder Matt Stick, who misjudged the ball. Stick broke in when he should have broken back, and the ball sailed over his head, despite the strong wind blowing in. Koser's double scored Derek Himes, who pinch ran for Augustine.
"After (Stick) broke in, he told me he took his eye off it," Gerber said. "Then he looked up and said it was hit harder than he expected."
The Panthers were determined to make Warsaw's 1-0 lead short-lived.
NorthWood's Jamie Hill started the top of the sixth by reaching first when his routine ground ball went through the legs of Warsaw second baseman Brandon Grubbs. One out later, Hill headed for second. As Grubbs went to cover the base, Snyder singled to the spot Grubbs had just vacated, sending Hill to third.
With one out and runners on first and third, Brown tried to squeeze. He bunted through the ball for a strike, and Hill, already headed for home, was caught in a rundown and tagged out. Brown was caught looking on the next pitch for a called strike three, ending NorthWood's threat and the inning.
"They missed the squeeze," Shepherd said. "Biggest play of the game."
Said Gerber: "We were trying to squeeze there to get the run in. We needed that run. We needed to get it tied, because then that puts the pressure back on (Warsaw). If we scored there, we would have had a tie game and a runner on second with our three and four hitters up."
But the Panthers didn't score, and Augustine, who only seems get more unhittable with each passing game, had another complete-game shutout.
"I think he was better than that (Wawasee) game," Shepherd said. "His stuff was really outstanding. He got ahead of hitters and stayed out of the middle of the plate. He put on a clinic again. NorthWood is a good hitting team, and he shut them down.
"He's not the biggest, strongest kid. He doesn't throw 88 miles per hour, but he stays out of the middle of the plate and hides the ball well."
The pitching chart told Shepherd all he needed to know. With a tidy 79 pitches, Augustine was off the scale.
WARSAW 1, NORTHWOOD 0
NorthWood (7-3) 000 000 0 - 0
Warsaw (5-4) 000 010 x - 1
NorthWood ab r h rbi
Snyder 2b 3 0 2 0
Brown p 3 0 0 0
Doty ss 3 0 0 0
Hoover 1b 3 0 0 0
Stick cf 3 0 0 0
Culp c 2 0 1 0
Flickinger pr 0 0 0 0
Fink rf 2 0 0 0
Hill lf 2 0 0 0
Sanders 3b 2 0 0 0
Totals 23 0 3 0
Warsaw ab h r rbi
Walmer ss 3 0 1 0
Grubbs 2b 2 0 0 0
Milton ph 1 0 0 0
Siebenmorgen c 3 0 2 0
Golden pr 0 0 0 0
Barger 3b 3 0 0 0
Nelson 1b 2 0 0 0
Stogsdill lf 1 0 0 0
Augustine p 2 0 1 0
Himes pr 0 1 0 0
Koser rf 2 0 1 1
Richardson cf 1 0 0 0
Totals 20 1 5 1
E-Grubbs, Sanders. DP-NorthWood 2. LOB-NorthWood 2, Warsaw 3. 2B-Augustine,
Koser, Siebenmorgen, Snyder. CS-Golden, Richardson, Walmer, Hill, Snyder.
NorthWood ip h r er bb so
Brown L, 3-1 6 5 1 1 1 4
Warsaw ip h r er bb so
Augustine W, 3-2 7 3 0 0 0 11
HBP-Richardson (by Brown). [[In-content Ad]]