AKRON - The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings got just what they needed Monday - strong pitching and a victory on the baseball diamond.
Valley (2-2) senior Tyler Peterson lost his bid for a no-hitter with only two outs to go against the visiting Triton Trojans (1-3), but he did manage to get the 6-1 victory."It was good to see Tyler pitch well," Valley coach Scott Backus said. "He worked his butt off in the offseason to get into better shape, and he throws the ball a little harder and, now, he's fundamentally better. We need that."
Peterson's effort helped erase the memory of Saturday's doubleheader loss to Elkhart Central, which saw Valley's pitching staff surrender 40 hits.
"We needed the pick-me-up after Saturday," Backus said. "Hopefully the other kids see that this is what happens when you work your butt off in the offseason."
Carrying his no-hitter into the seventh, Peterson got things going in the final inning by walking sophomore Zak Shively, but then got sophomore Marc Lindsey to fly out to a sliding junior Tyler Akers in right field.
With Peterson two outs away from a no-hitter, Triton junior Victor Vuittonet ripped a single up the middle, spoiling the no-no, and ending the left-hander's day.
"We wanted to give him a chance in the seventh, but his pitch count was a little higher than we wanted him to have," Backus said. "We were going give it to him as long as he earned it. As soon as he gave up that hit, we didn't want to run him anymore pitches than we had to."
Peterson can thank his defense for helping make the no-hitter last that long.
Sophomore centerfielder James Hackworth made two catches at full sprint and another diving catch on a fly ball in the third inning. In the fourth, Trey Jones made a leaping catch on a line drive off the bat of Shively, and Akers also made his sliding catch for first out of the seventh.
"I don't think we hit the ball that bad," Triton coach Jim Shively said. "Their centerfielder made a couple of nice plays and there was a line drive to second base, that he reached up and nabbed. We had areas where we didn't hit the ball well, but I wasn't that disappointed in our hitting."
The night's big offensive star was Valley sophomore Brody Andrews, who went 2 for 3 with two doubles, an RBI and a run.
Because of shoulder surgery in the offseason, Andrews won't be playing catcher for his team this year, but he is still able to swing a big stick.
"He's 100 percent to swing and run the bases," Backus said. "He's a heck of a hitter and it's nice to have him in the middle of the lineup."
Backus got good hitting from his No. 1 and 2 hitters as well, as senior Taylor Burkhart went 2 for 3 in the leadoff spot and Akers had a 2-for-2 day.
The hits may not have been there for Triton, but their skipper was pleased with the effort of senior starting pitcher Brett Houlihan, who went five innings in the loss.
"Brett didn't pitch too bad," Shively said of Houlihan, who'll be playing at Grace College next year. "There were a few spots where he fell behind some kids, but overall, it was pretty good."
After winning a state championship at Triton in 2001, Shively knows what it takes to win. But after taking a few years off from coaching, he's come back in an attempt to turn things around in Bourbon.
"We're trying to get them to understand what we want and what they need to do to be successful," he said. "We have some long talks every once in a while."
Triton travels to Caston today for a 4:45 p.m. game, while Valley visits Tiger Field in Warsaw Wednesday at 5 p.m.
"Win, lose or draw against Warsaw, we have to play seven innings of solid baseball and see what happens," Backus said.
"It's early in the season," the Valley coach added. "We have guys that have the potential, it's just a matter of them realizing it."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 6, TRITON 1
T 000 000 1 - 1 1 1
V 010 041 x - 6 12 1
Tyler Peterson (W, 6-1/3IP, 1R, 0ER, 1H, 4K, 3BB, 1HB), Dan Kitch (7, 2/3IP, 1K, 1BB) and Kameron Akers, Jacob Ritchey (3); Brett Houlihan (L, 5IP, 6R, 5ER, 12H, 2K, 1BB), Marc Lindsey (6, 1IP, 1BB) and Matt Heath
