AKRON – Fueled by another stellar performance from one of their senior pitchers, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings opened Three Rivers Conference baseball play in fine fashion Wednesday evening. Just two days after Eric Hammer tossed a no-hitter and struck out 18 in a 1-0 win over Class 1A No. 1 Pioneer, Luke Helton fired a no-hitter in a 5-inning, 11-0 win over the visiting North Miami Warriors. Helton struck out eight North Miami batters and walked just one, junior Shane Holden, who drew a free base in the first inning. The only other two Warriors to reach base – junior Trevor Linn and sophomore Zane Briggs – did so in the third inning via catcher interference and an error. “When you’ve got two college pitchers leading your pitching staff, and they’re both seniors and they’ve been doing this for four years now, it should be a good year for you,” said second-year Valley coach Justin Branock. “Both of them are throwing well, and obviously today’s game and Monday’s game were really good, and if they can do this all the time I think we’re gonna be pretty good in the end.” With Wednesday’s win, the Vikings improved to 5-0 overall, while the Warriors fell to 0-4-1. Junior Alec Craig led off Valley’s half of the first inning with a double, advanced on senior Brandon Webster’s sacrifice bunt, and then scored on Hammer’s RBI single. As it turned out, it was the only run the Vikings needed, though their offense was just getting started. Valley plated two runs in the first inning, four in the second and five in the third en route to the dominating win. The Vikings pounded out 16 hits, including five doubles. Sophomore Adam Myers, junior Keegan Larimer, Craig, Helton and Hammer all had multiple hits for Valley. Craig led the way with three doubles. “With having two seniors gone on the senior trip, and playing a couple guys that don’t get a lot of innings all the time and that were more JV guys last year, I wanted to get ahead early, even if it was just 1-0, and hopefully loosen some guys up that seemed a little tense before the game,” said Branock. “A little bit of the small-ball early was just to get us on the board quick and get us out front instead of waiting until the third inning because we played for a big inning early. “Everybody contributed, even those guys that filled in for our two guys that are missing contributed. That’s what we talked about before the game ... I felt I had the right pieces to the puzzle, even with a couple guys missing.” Sophomore Matt Stewart started the game on the mound for the Warriors, but gave up six runs and lasted just two innings. Freshman Austin Carter replaced Stewart and gave up five runs in one inning of work. Sophomore Braxton Gunter pitched the fourth inning for the Warriors. The Vikings are in action again tonight when they travel to South Bend to play the John Adams Eagles.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 11, NORTH MIAMI 0 (5 innings) NM 000 00 – 0 0 0 TV 245 0X – 11 16 1 NM – Matt Stewart (L, 2IP), Austin Carter (1 IP), Braxton Gunter (1 IP); TV – Luke Helton (W, 5IP, 0H, 1BB) 2B – Alec Craig (TV) 3 Records: N. Miami 0-4-1 (0-1 TRC), T. Valley 5-0 (1-0 TRC)
