SOUTH WHITLEY — One big inning was all the Whitko baseball team needed Wednesday evening at home against Peru. Trailing 1-0, the Wildcats (7-2) tagged Peru Tigers (2-4) senior pitcher Kyle Marburger for seven runs in the bottom of the second and went on to win 8-2. “We came out kind of flat, and I kind of got into the guys a little bit,” Whitko coach Erik Hisner said. “They responded well. Anytime you put up more than three runs in an inning is a good inning.” In that inning, Whitko sent 11 batters to the dish, with senior Austin Mort, junior Alex Stoddard and senior Colin Nicodemus all hitting doubles. Stoddard’s drove in two and Nicodemus’ plated another. The offensive explosion was all the Wildcats defense needed, as it overcame two drops in the outfield to look pretty good the rest of the way. First, Nicodemus made a diving play at second base to get a runner out at second to end the third inning, then junior Ryan Weigold made a shoestring catch at third in the seventh inning, which enabled him to double off a runner and squash any thoughts of a Peru comeback. Along with their physical prowess, the Wildcats also did it mentally, picking up a double play in the sixth on an infield fly rule. With runners at first and second and no one out, Peru senior Dexter Simmons popped one up, just to the outfield grass. As the shortstop Stoddard went back to get it, he lost it in the sun after the umpire had called for the infield fly rule. With the batter automatically out, Peru senior Andrew Adelsparter didn’t hear the umpire’s call and proceeded to third base where he was tagged out. “Outside of the two errors in right (field), we played real well defensively,” Hisner said. And sophomore pitcher Ethan Nicodemus let the defense work, going all seven innings and striking out seven. “We had him at 76 pitches, so great job by him,” Hisner said about his ace. “Even when he got behind 2-0, 3-1, he was able to throw strikes and force some contact.” Whitko got its eight runs on just six hits. Stoddard accounted for two of them, both doubles, with his final at-bat resulting in an RBI flyout, which gave him three RBIs in the win. “He got off to a slow start (this season), but he goes from one sport to another, from football to basketball to baseball,” Hisner said about Stoddard. “He’s kind of started slow the last couple of years, but he’s found himself. He had two hits Monday at West Noble. He’s starting to swing well.” With Stoddard picking it up, Whitko appears to be on an upswing, sitting at 7-2, with one of their losses being in 12 innings to Class 3A No. 5 Norwell. Norwell was ranked No. 1 at the time of its win over the Wildcats. “We have a lot of kids that have put in a lot of hard work,” Hisner said about his guys. “We’ve got kids that have played together for a long time. They have a good work ethic and just stick with it. We’ve had some rebuilding here since I took over (in 2007), so it’s nice to see the fruits of our labor. Give credit to the kids. We’re just on a roll right now. Hopefully we can keep it going.” The Wildcats will look to keep it going Friday at Lakeland before taking part in Saturday’s Wawasee Invitational.
WHITKO 8, PERU 2 P 100 100 0 - 2 8 2 W 070 010 x - 8 6 2 Ethan Nicodemus (W, 7IP, 2R, 1ER, 8H, 7K, 0BB) and Riley Cokl; Kyle Marburger (L, 4IP, 8R, 5ER, 5H, 8K, 5BB, 1HB), Joe Comerford (5, 1-2/3IP, 0R, 1H, 2K, 0BB), Ian Sullivan (6, 1/3IP) and Kreighton Ray, Matt McKinney (5). 2B – Alex Stoddard (W) 2, Colin Nicodemus (W), Avery Robbins (W), Austin Mort (W), Dexter Simmons (P) Records: Whitko 7-2, Peru 2-4
