Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 133, Number 19, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 13 May 2010 — Page 9

Panthers drop pair of NLC battles 1- A.

By Steve Smut* Correspondent NAPPANEE/DUNLAP - Hie North Wood Panther baseball team dropped a pair of Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) games to Goshen and- Concord, and then lost their first contest to the rain in 2010 as the final scheduled game of the week against Northridge was a washout. No makeup date has been announced. The Panthers fell to .500 on the season at 8-8, and are just 2-6 in the Northern Lakes Conference (NLC). Goshen 12, North Wood 10 Playing their first home game in almost two weeks, North Wood had to battle intermittent rain showers as well as the pesky Redskins. Goshen grabbed the early lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Jon Swihart, but the Panthers tied it in their half of the inning on a walk to Cam Spitaels, a base hit by John Sittler, and a sacrifice fly by Blair Beehler. After die Redskins grabbed the lead back with another run in die third when Warren Kay's double drove home his brother Carl, North Wood scored three runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 4-2 advantage. Kyle Heckaman led off with a single and Derek Yoder doubled, driving him home. Brennan Yoder was plunked by a pitch and after a groundout that moved up both runners, Tony Miranda's sacrifice fly scored Derek Yoder. Abase hit by Spitaels plated Brennan Yoder to complete die scorir.® for the inning. After that, however, the Panther bats went silent as Goshen's Taylor Short suddenly found his groove, striking out seven batters in the next three innings. Meanwhile, the Redskins began pounding the ball against North Wood starter Derek Yoder, scoring four times in the fourth inning to regain the lead and then knocking Yoder from the game in the sixth with five more runs for an 11-4 advantage. Number nine hitter Brad Taylor was the primary catalyst for the outburst as he drove in a pair of runs in each inning, the first two with a home run to left field and the second pair on a bases-loaded single. Goshen added one more run in the top of the seventh off reliever Brandon Purcell to make it 12-4 and it appeared that Short would easily cruise to the win but a furious North Wood rally nearly resulted in an incredible comeback. ITie inning started with a double by Derek Yoder and an RBI single by Brennan Yoder, and Miranda then

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Photo by James Costello North Wood's Brennan Yoder, left, looks to the umpire for the call after tagging Plymouth's Kory Hinz, center, on a pick-off throw from home plate, while Derek Yoder, right looks on, during an NLC match-up last week.

reached on an error, sending Short to the showers. Troy Pickard came on in relief for the Redskins and promptly walked Cory Snyder to load the bases, then drilled Spitaels with a pitch, forcing in a run and bringing on Carl Kay to the mound. Sittler greeted Kay with a base hit to center, scoring Spitaels and after retiring a batter, Tanner Roberts reloaded the bases by reaching on another Goshen error. Kay then induoed a grounder back v to the mound, forcing Spitaels at the plate, but then uncorked a pair of wild pitches during a walk to Derek Yoder, allowing Sittler and Roberts to both cross the plate and narrow the Redskin lead to 12-10 with two outs. With the fcfl at

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the plate in Brennan Yoder, Kay escaped the jam when Yoder hit a hard grounder to short that was handled by Warren Kay as Goshen escaped by the (Red) skin of their teeth. Derek Yoder, Spitaels, and Sittler each had two hits and an RBI to lead North Wood, while Goshen was paced by two hits, four RBIs, and three runs scored from Taylor. Concord 6, North Wood 4 The Concord Minutemen avenged an early-season loss to the Panthers by squeaking out a 6-4 win on their home field, as junior Alex Stiver went the distance on the hill for the victory. The Panthers drew first fldlod as Derek Yoder singled on the first

Advance News * Thursday, May 13,2010

pitch of the game, was sacrificed to second by Brennan Yoder, went to third on a passed ball, and scored on a two-out pop up by Snyder that fell untouched about three feet in front of home plate. The Minutemen did not trail for long, however, jumping on North Wood starter Zech Manring for a pair of runs in their half of the first on an RBI single by Logan Draus and a sacrifice fly by Kyle Gavin to take a 21 lead. Concord added two more unearned runs in the second inning, stretching the lead to 4-1 and threatened in the third by putting the first two men on base but Purcell came on in relief of Manring and retired three straight batters to get out of the jam. Meanwhile, Stiver, despite allowing baserunners in every inning, managed to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard until the top of the sixth when Beehler led off with a home run, his team-leading sixth dinger of the season and just one away from the single-season school record of seven set in 2007 by Chase Estep. The blast narrowed the Minuteman lead to 5-2, but they pushed the margin back to four in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Doug Acker, just the second run allowed by Purcell in four terrific innings on the mound for the Panthers. North Wood then mounted another lastgasp rally, ignited by a leadoff single by Miranda. Stiver retired the next two batters but Sittler then laced a base hit to left, scoring Miranda, stole second base, and scored on another single by Beehler to make it 6-4 Concord. Stiver then bore down and induced a long fly ball to left to end the game and seal the victory for the hosts. Beehler had three hits and two RBIs to lead the way for North Wood while Acker had three hits and knocked in a run to pace the victorious Minutemen. VARSITY BOX SCORES • GOSHEN 12, NORTHWOOD 10 At Nappanee Goshen 011 405 1 - 12 13 2 North Wood 013 000 6- 10 10 2 Batteries: North Wood: Derek Yoder (L), Zech Manring (6), Brandon Purcell (7) and John Sittler % Goshen: Taylor Short (W), Troy Pickard (7), Carl Kajr(7) and Travis Pickard 2B: Derek Yoder-2 (N); Speicher (G); Garcia (G) HR: Taylor (G) • CONCORD 6. NORTHWOOD 4 \ At Dunlap North Wood 100 001 2- 4 9 2 Concord 220 101 x - 6 7 2 Batteries: North Wood: Zech Manring (L), Brandon Purcell (3) and John Sittler Goshen: Alex Stiver (W) and Seth Huxford '< 3B: Brennan Yoder (N) HR: Blair Beehler (N) '

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