Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Angola - Come postseason time, pitching and defense factor in discernibly as to who advances and who goes home.
Tuesday afternoon, Northwood had the pitching and Northridge did not have the defense.Ê The Northwood Panthers rode the excellent pitching by Jesse Hoover and the suspect defense of Northridge to defeat the Raiders 6-1 in the Angola Class 3A Sectional 21.
Hoover, as Northwood coach Doug Gerber put it, "got ahead of the hitters and threw a very good game."Ê Hoover seemingly had every Raider hitter in an 0-2 or 1-2 hole, which leaves hitters at the mercy of a good pitcher.
Both teams were scoreless until Northwood's half of the fourth when center fielder Matthew Sitek singled with one out then consequently stole third.Ê Gerber next called upon the squeeze play, which was executed to perfection by Carl Flickinger, putting the Panthers ahead 1-0.
Northridge was able to knot the score at 1-1 thanks to a solid single by Ryan Toth, scoring Jeremy Weaver from second.
Both teams were unable to score until NorthWood's half of the seventh. This proved to be the undoing and unraveling of the Raiders.
The first three batters in the Northwood seventh reached via the error.Ê Nate Brown stepped to the plate to deliver what proved to be the winning run by way of a sacrifice fly, scoring Rory Clouse.Ê
Northwood delivered the knockout punch to the woozy Raiders from the bats of Brock Doty and winning pitcher Hoover.Ê
Doty produced a two-run scoring triple and Hoover a two-run scoring double to give the Panthers breathing room.
Gerber was understandably happy.
"We were fortunate enough to get some bunts down and follow them up with two big hits," said Gerber.
Northridge coach Mike Logan saw his young team bow out to a more experienced team.
"Six innings was a good game, then we didn't execute the fundamentals," Logan said. "Give credit to Northwood. If you don't make plays, you don't go on."
Northwood next faces Lakeland, a 1-0 winner over Wawasee, at 11 a.m. Saturday.
NORTHWOOD 6, NORTHRIDGE 1
NorthWood 000 100 5 - 6 7 1
Northridge 000 010 0 - 1 2 5#
NorthWood ab h r rbi
Brown lf 3 0 0 1
Snyder 2b 4 0 0 0
Doty ss 4 2 1 2
Sitek cf 3 2 2 0
Hoover p 4 1 0 2
R. Flickinger 0 0 0 0
C. Flickinger 1b 4 1 0 1
Clouse dh 3 0 0 0
Hill 0 0 1 0
E. Flickinger rf 3 0 1 0
Sanders 3b 2 1 1 0
Totals 30 7 6 6
Northridge ab h r rbi
Klotz 2b 3 0 0 0
Mast ss 2 0 0 0
M. Miller p 2 0 0 0
Whitten c 3 0 0 0
Grubaugh 0 0 0 0
D. Miller dh 2 0 0 0
Babcock 1b 3 1 0 0
Weaver cf 2 0 1 0
Toth rf 3 1 0 1
Schrock lf 1 0 0 0
Totals 21 2 1 1
E - Mast, M. Miller 2, R. Flickinger, Havlik 2. DP - Northridge (Klotz, Havlik). LOB - NorthWood 6, Northridge 4. 2B - Hoover. 3B - Doty. Sac - Schrock, Sanders. SB - Sitek 2. CS - Grubaugh.
NorthWood IP H R ER K BB
Hoover, W 7 2 1 0 7 2
Northridge IP H R ER K BB
M. Miller, L 7 7 6 3 4 1
PB - Culp. Balk - M. Miller. HBP - Mast, D. Miller.
