Valley's Rally Falls Short
May 2, 2017 at 4:08 p.m.
Valley's Rally Falls Short
By Dale [email protected]
Their four-run rally, however, was too little, too late, as the Southwood Knights built a 9-1 lead Monday and held off Valley 9-5 in Three Rivers Conference baseball action.
On a day so windy the American flag in the outfield never got any rest from waving, the visiting Knights hit a trio of two-run homers – two by junior Carson Blair – and find themselves in a four-way tie atop the TRC.
Southwood improved to 6-6 overall, and like Peru, Manchester and Rochester are 3-1 in the league standings.
Valley fell to 5-6 and 2-2.
“We found a bit of a sense of urgency, trailing 9-1, and thought ‘oh crap,’” said Branock, whose team had just two hits off Southwood freshman pitcher Gabe Lloyd in the first six innings. “I don’t think Lloyd was doing anything differently, I just think we finally found a sense of urgency.”
Down to its final three outs and trailing by eight runs, Valley started the home half of the seventh inning with a single by freshman Tucker Shull.
Sophomore Lucas Walters followed with a single, and then junior Drew Hartman’s sac-fly scored Shull.
With two outs, seniors Keegan Larimer and Alec Craig ripped singles, and later scored on an error that allowed freshman Tanner Trippiedi to reach base.
Trippiedi eventually scored to cut the deficit to 9-5.
Junior Adam Myers was hit by a pitch, keeping the Valley rally alive and prompting Southwood coach Warren Daily to replace Lloyd with sophomore Cameron Ball.
Ball did his job, getting a one-out save as Valley senior Hunter Early flew out to rightfield for the final out.
“Our focus has to be on getting better every day,” said Branock. “Whether we end up winning the conference this year, I don’t know. It may take some help from other teams, but our goal has to be to come out and get better every day and continue to try and win baseball games.
“Essentially, the point to the season is winning the sectional, and we’re still focused on that. If the conference falls into place as we progress here, then it falls into place, but right now we need to think more short-term and just try to get better every day.”
Lloyd, who retired 14 straight batters at one point, got the win on the mound.
After dominating the Vikings for six innings in a Greg Maddux like performance, getting batters to ground out or fly out, Lloyd ended up surrendering six hits and five runs. He struck out four and didn’t issue a walk in 6-2/3 innings.
Craig was charged with the loss after giving up nine runs, eight hits and three walks in 4-1/3 innings of work. He struck out three Southwood batters.
Craig gave up just three hits in the first three innings, but they were big ones.
Senior Joel Hinds powered a two-out shot over the centerfield fence in the first inning that scored Ball, who led off the game with a walk, to give Southwood a 2-0 lead.
Blair hit his first two-run homer in the third inning, pushing the Knights’ advantage to 4-1.
His second blast came in the fifth inning and ballooned Southwood’s lead to 7-1.
Junior Ethan Roberts hit an RBI single in the fifth that scored two.
The Knights scored their nine runs Monday on nine hits.
“It’s not very often the wind blows out here like it did today,” said Branock. “Typically the park plays pretty big, but when the wind blows out here to left-center and to right-center it’s not a very big park.
“They hit a few baseballs and they hit them hard, and they got them up in the wind and that helped. Most of their runs came on three swings.”
The Vikings are in action again Wednesday when they host conference foe Northfield, a team that no-hit Whitko Monday evening.
SOUTHWOOD 9, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 5
SW 202 050 0 – 9 9 4
TV 100 000 4 – 5 6 3
Southwood – Gabe Lloyd (W, 6.2IP, 6H, 5R, 4K, 0BB), Zach Ball (S, .1IP, OH, OR, 0K, 0BB).
Valley – Alec Crag (L, 4.1IP, 8H, 9R, 5K, 3BB), Tucker Shull (1.2IP, 0H, 0R, 2K, 0BB), Jack Utter (1IP, 1H, 0R, 0K, 0BB)
HR – Carson Blair (SW) 2, Joel Hinds (SW)
Records: Southwood 6-6 (3-1 TRC), Valley 5-6 (2-2 TRC)
Their four-run rally, however, was too little, too late, as the Southwood Knights built a 9-1 lead Monday and held off Valley 9-5 in Three Rivers Conference baseball action.
On a day so windy the American flag in the outfield never got any rest from waving, the visiting Knights hit a trio of two-run homers – two by junior Carson Blair – and find themselves in a four-way tie atop the TRC.
Southwood improved to 6-6 overall, and like Peru, Manchester and Rochester are 3-1 in the league standings.
Valley fell to 5-6 and 2-2.
“We found a bit of a sense of urgency, trailing 9-1, and thought ‘oh crap,’” said Branock, whose team had just two hits off Southwood freshman pitcher Gabe Lloyd in the first six innings. “I don’t think Lloyd was doing anything differently, I just think we finally found a sense of urgency.”
Down to its final three outs and trailing by eight runs, Valley started the home half of the seventh inning with a single by freshman Tucker Shull.
Sophomore Lucas Walters followed with a single, and then junior Drew Hartman’s sac-fly scored Shull.
With two outs, seniors Keegan Larimer and Alec Craig ripped singles, and later scored on an error that allowed freshman Tanner Trippiedi to reach base.
Trippiedi eventually scored to cut the deficit to 9-5.
Junior Adam Myers was hit by a pitch, keeping the Valley rally alive and prompting Southwood coach Warren Daily to replace Lloyd with sophomore Cameron Ball.
Ball did his job, getting a one-out save as Valley senior Hunter Early flew out to rightfield for the final out.
“Our focus has to be on getting better every day,” said Branock. “Whether we end up winning the conference this year, I don’t know. It may take some help from other teams, but our goal has to be to come out and get better every day and continue to try and win baseball games.
“Essentially, the point to the season is winning the sectional, and we’re still focused on that. If the conference falls into place as we progress here, then it falls into place, but right now we need to think more short-term and just try to get better every day.”
Lloyd, who retired 14 straight batters at one point, got the win on the mound.
After dominating the Vikings for six innings in a Greg Maddux like performance, getting batters to ground out or fly out, Lloyd ended up surrendering six hits and five runs. He struck out four and didn’t issue a walk in 6-2/3 innings.
Craig was charged with the loss after giving up nine runs, eight hits and three walks in 4-1/3 innings of work. He struck out three Southwood batters.
Craig gave up just three hits in the first three innings, but they were big ones.
Senior Joel Hinds powered a two-out shot over the centerfield fence in the first inning that scored Ball, who led off the game with a walk, to give Southwood a 2-0 lead.
Blair hit his first two-run homer in the third inning, pushing the Knights’ advantage to 4-1.
His second blast came in the fifth inning and ballooned Southwood’s lead to 7-1.
Junior Ethan Roberts hit an RBI single in the fifth that scored two.
The Knights scored their nine runs Monday on nine hits.
“It’s not very often the wind blows out here like it did today,” said Branock. “Typically the park plays pretty big, but when the wind blows out here to left-center and to right-center it’s not a very big park.
“They hit a few baseballs and they hit them hard, and they got them up in the wind and that helped. Most of their runs came on three swings.”
The Vikings are in action again Wednesday when they host conference foe Northfield, a team that no-hit Whitko Monday evening.
SOUTHWOOD 9, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 5
SW 202 050 0 – 9 9 4
TV 100 000 4 – 5 6 3
Southwood – Gabe Lloyd (W, 6.2IP, 6H, 5R, 4K, 0BB), Zach Ball (S, .1IP, OH, OR, 0K, 0BB).
Valley – Alec Crag (L, 4.1IP, 8H, 9R, 5K, 3BB), Tucker Shull (1.2IP, 0H, 0R, 2K, 0BB), Jack Utter (1IP, 1H, 0R, 0K, 0BB)
HR – Carson Blair (SW) 2, Joel Hinds (SW)
Records: Southwood 6-6 (3-1 TRC), Valley 5-6 (2-2 TRC)
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