Vikings Fail To Reach .500
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
AKRON - The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings baseball team took the field Wednesday evening fresh off an 8-inning heartbreaking loss Monday to Southwood with sights set on climbing above .500.
It was not to be.
The Vikings sleepwalked for seven innings in losing to Three Rivers Confenece opponent Northfield 8-2. Valley seemed hung over from the emotional loss Monday by allowing five stolen bases, committing three passed balls and booting a ground ball, thus opening the door for a five-run Northfield fifth inning.
The lackluster effort by Valley was not directly traced to its misfortunes, but due in part to a solid pitching performance by Norseman Jason Stanley.
Stanley was in total command the entire evening, allowing just four hits in going the distance.
"I was pleased with Jason's performance," Northfield coach Tony Uggen said. "He was able to keep the ball down. I was hesitant to throw him again against Valley."
Stanley was able to quell Uggen's hesitations early in the ballgame by retiring the first ten Vikings in order. Stanley took his perfect game into Valley's half of the fourth but his dreams of perfection were interrupted by a solid single to right by Dax Snyder.
Northfield took a slim 1-0 lead into its half of the fourth and left with breathing room after scoring the aforementioned five runs. The Norseman sent 11 batters to the plate highlighted by a two-run scoring double off the bat of first baseman Floyd McWhirt. The Norsemen never had to seriously check their rear view mirrors because of Stanley's dominance.
Stanley displayed outstanding control of his pitching by allowing only seven base runners while striking out seven, buckling a few knees in the process with a sharp breaking curve ball.
Northfield strung together 10 hits by six different batters. "We have different guys every night contributing," Uggen said.Ê
Northfield also was the recipient of 12 walks issued by three different Viking pitchers.
The back side to the large numbers of Norse baserunners lie in the runners stranded, 13. To compound matters, of the 13 stranded, eight were in scoring position.
How does this sit with Uggen?Ê "We have got to do a better job of getting runners in especially come sectional time," he said. "If we don't, we won't be around very long (in the tournament)."Ê
Tippecanoe Valley gets its next chance to stop the bleeding Friday when the Vikings travel to Rochester to take on the Zebras.Ê The loss to Northfield drops Valley's record to 7-8 overall and also leaves them still searching for their first conference win with an 0-2 TRC mark.
NORTHFIELD 8, VALLEY 2
Northfield 001 500 2 - 8 10 0
Valley 000 001 1 -Ê2 4 1
Ê
Northfield AB H R BI
Smith 3b 3 0 2 0
Hampton ss 3 0 1 0
Haupert ph 0 0 0 0
Daniel prÊ 0 0 1 0
F McWhirt 1b 4 2 1 2
Stanley p 5 3 1 2
C McWhirt lf 2 1 2 0
McKillip dh 4 1 0 0
Sherman c 2 0 0 1
Good 2b 5 1 0 0
Miller cf 4 2 0 1
Ê
Ê
Valley AB HÊ R BI
Sausaman 2b 3 0 0 0
Snyder dh 3 2 1 0
Eby cf 3 1 0 1
Deardorff 1b/p 3 0 0 0
Swanson p 0 0 0 0
Cunningham 3b 2 0 1 0
Shewman p/1b 2 0 0 0
Haney p 1 0 0 0
Shilling lf 3 0 0 0
Backus c 2 1 0 0
Jackson ss 2 0 0 0
Ê
Northfield IP H R ER K BB
Stanley W. 7 4 2 1 7 2
Ê
Ê
Valley IP H R ER K BB
Shewman L 3.1 8 6 4 5 4
Deardorff 3.1 2 2 2 3 7
Swanson .1 0 0 0 0 0
Ê
Ê
LOB-Northfield 13, Valley 5. RISP-Northfield 8, Valley 2. HBP-Cunningham, Backus. Errors-Jackson 2B-F. McWhirt. PB-Backus 3, Sherman 3. SB-C McWhirt 2, Stanley 2, Hampton, Eby, Cunningham. [[In-content Ad]]
AKRON - The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings baseball team took the field Wednesday evening fresh off an 8-inning heartbreaking loss Monday to Southwood with sights set on climbing above .500.
It was not to be.
The Vikings sleepwalked for seven innings in losing to Three Rivers Confenece opponent Northfield 8-2. Valley seemed hung over from the emotional loss Monday by allowing five stolen bases, committing three passed balls and booting a ground ball, thus opening the door for a five-run Northfield fifth inning.
The lackluster effort by Valley was not directly traced to its misfortunes, but due in part to a solid pitching performance by Norseman Jason Stanley.
Stanley was in total command the entire evening, allowing just four hits in going the distance.
"I was pleased with Jason's performance," Northfield coach Tony Uggen said. "He was able to keep the ball down. I was hesitant to throw him again against Valley."
Stanley was able to quell Uggen's hesitations early in the ballgame by retiring the first ten Vikings in order. Stanley took his perfect game into Valley's half of the fourth but his dreams of perfection were interrupted by a solid single to right by Dax Snyder.
Northfield took a slim 1-0 lead into its half of the fourth and left with breathing room after scoring the aforementioned five runs. The Norseman sent 11 batters to the plate highlighted by a two-run scoring double off the bat of first baseman Floyd McWhirt. The Norsemen never had to seriously check their rear view mirrors because of Stanley's dominance.
Stanley displayed outstanding control of his pitching by allowing only seven base runners while striking out seven, buckling a few knees in the process with a sharp breaking curve ball.
Northfield strung together 10 hits by six different batters. "We have different guys every night contributing," Uggen said.Ê
Northfield also was the recipient of 12 walks issued by three different Viking pitchers.
The back side to the large numbers of Norse baserunners lie in the runners stranded, 13. To compound matters, of the 13 stranded, eight were in scoring position.
How does this sit with Uggen?Ê "We have got to do a better job of getting runners in especially come sectional time," he said. "If we don't, we won't be around very long (in the tournament)."Ê
Tippecanoe Valley gets its next chance to stop the bleeding Friday when the Vikings travel to Rochester to take on the Zebras.Ê The loss to Northfield drops Valley's record to 7-8 overall and also leaves them still searching for their first conference win with an 0-2 TRC mark.
NORTHFIELD 8, VALLEY 2
Northfield 001 500 2 - 8 10 0
Valley 000 001 1 -Ê2 4 1
Ê
Northfield AB H R BI
Smith 3b 3 0 2 0
Hampton ss 3 0 1 0
Haupert ph 0 0 0 0
Daniel prÊ 0 0 1 0
F McWhirt 1b 4 2 1 2
Stanley p 5 3 1 2
C McWhirt lf 2 1 2 0
McKillip dh 4 1 0 0
Sherman c 2 0 0 1
Good 2b 5 1 0 0
Miller cf 4 2 0 1
Ê
Ê
Valley AB HÊ R BI
Sausaman 2b 3 0 0 0
Snyder dh 3 2 1 0
Eby cf 3 1 0 1
Deardorff 1b/p 3 0 0 0
Swanson p 0 0 0 0
Cunningham 3b 2 0 1 0
Shewman p/1b 2 0 0 0
Haney p 1 0 0 0
Shilling lf 3 0 0 0
Backus c 2 1 0 0
Jackson ss 2 0 0 0
Ê
Northfield IP H R ER K BB
Stanley W. 7 4 2 1 7 2
Ê
Ê
Valley IP H R ER K BB
Shewman L 3.1 8 6 4 5 4
Deardorff 3.1 2 2 2 3 7
Swanson .1 0 0 0 0 0
Ê
Ê
LOB-Northfield 13, Valley 5. RISP-Northfield 8, Valley 2. HBP-Cunningham, Backus. Errors-Jackson 2B-F. McWhirt. PB-Backus 3, Sherman 3. SB-C McWhirt 2, Stanley 2, Hampton, Eby, Cunningham. [[In-content Ad]]