The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1097179
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, March 27, 2019 B-1 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg OCU Baseball improving their record Pike Central Varsity Wrestling Awards Pike Central High School wrestling team had their awards banquet recently. The award winners were, front row (l to r): Jon Cannon, Off-Season Award; Tyler Kirby, Most Improved; Isaiah Greer, MVP; Cody Davis, Key Newcomer; back row: Assistant Coach John Thompson; Ian Allen, Killer Instinct Award; Blake Henson, Academic Award; Brandon Goep- pner, Mental Attitude; Wyatt Frasure, Coaches Award; and Head Coach Ryan McCain. Oakland City University's baseball team improved their record to 9 -6, while beating Robert Morris University-Spring- field, and then won two games to finish their series at Pinnick Field. The first game ended with the lopsided margin of 14-2, and the finale ended when OCU won in walk-off fashion 8 -7. Dilon Whitten led on the mound the first game, pitching four complete in- nings, only giving up two hits and one earned run. He struck out nine. Isaiah Barber then threw two innings in relief, allowing one hit, while striking out three. Austin Kelley then closed out the remain- der of the game, giving up one earned run and two hits. The team was led in hits by Noah Baugher, who went 2-4 at the plate, along with a walk and a stolen base. He had a double and the first home run of his col- lege career as well. He led the team in runs with three, and runs batted in as well with four. Jacob Bedwell and Adrian Navarro also hit their first collegiate homers. Pike County's own Colton White went 2-4 with two runs and a steal, which hap- pened in the fifth inning. Devan Franz, Whitten, Will Davis and Kyle Stuckey also added to the wins of- fensively. Head Coach T-Ray Fletcher sent a mix of pitchers into the game for the final of the series. Davis started and pitched five complete innings, allowing two earned runs and four hits, along with four walks. He struck out one. Gabriel Walker, Mat- thew Stevenson and Jesse Reed all saw mound time as well to finish out the se- ries. Bedwell was the sole Mighty Oak with more than one hit in game two, going 2- 3. He walked once and scored three runs. Tyler Shamblin hit a grand slam, his first home run as an Oak, in the bottom of the fifth inning. He ended the game with four RBIs, two runs scored and he walked once. Oakland City Mighty Oaks will be in action again in a three-game series against Johnson University in Knoxville, Tenn., on March 25 and 26. Game one will start at 3 p.m. on Monday, followed by a double-header at 3 p.m. the next day. See NETS on 3 Lewis nets two-hitter over Lincoln College Game one for the Lady Oaks on Sat- urday was a 14-0 win before the home crowd, but a reversal took place in game two as the Lynx of Lincoln College were Lady Chargers fall to Jasper in season opener Pike Central's Lady Charger softball team lost their opener to Jasper in a game that came down to the last inning. It was a tie game 3-3 after the first six innings. But Jasper was able to score four runs and Pike Central couldn't match them. Their seventh inning scoring started when freshman Megan Matheis came off the bench for a pinch two-run homer. Pike Central had eight hits. Alize Padgett and Hannah Carnahan each had hits for RBIs. Padgett also pitched all seven innings. She had three strike outs, five walks and allowed six earned runs. Pike Central had one error. "Our defense played solid. We made plays when needed, fielded the bunt well, our outfield covered a lot of ground," said Charger Coach Stepha- nie Richardson about her first varsity game as coach. "Jasper is always good competition for us, and I like that we got to match up with them early in the season. It gave us a lot to think about and build from," said Richardson. "We are just getting a late start offensive- ly. We wait around until the fifth or sixth inning to start hitting the ball and swing- ing the bat hard. We have talked a lot about approaching the plate differently by being locked in on the first pitch. With most ef- fective pitchers, that is the only good pitch you'll see in your at-bat." "Hallie Bailey came off the bench late in the game, to pinch hit and took the first pitch deep into the short stop-third base hole for a single. She moved the runners in- to scoring position. This is what we are try- ing to get the girls to feel comfortable with. Just go to the plate, be disciplined, have con- fidence and swing the bat hard. We have to start putting more pressure on our oppo- nents in the field." "Once we start executing offensively, things will start to come together. Over- all, it has been a great start to the season. There will always be room for work, and it is refreshing to me when the girls come to practice ready to tweak those small im- provements," said Richardson. JV FALLS 6-3 The JV game was nearly a mirror image of the varsity game. It was tied 3-3 in the fifth inning, but Jas- per walked away with the victory. Pike Central's highlight of the JV game was Alexis Englert's homerun over the left field fence in the fifth inning. "Alexis is so strong and has such a smooth swing," said Richardson. "I had two strikes on me, I was just trying to make contact with the ball," said Englert. "When she hits the middle of the ball and drives her hips into the swing, she is a very tough battle at the plate. We were all very excited and happy for her," said Richardson. "The JV game just came down to being 'out-hit.' Jasper had nine timely hits, and we had eight hits spread out through the game. It seemed like we couldn't get it to all come at the same time and get our run- ners around the bases." "The JV played really well in the field, only allowing one error. We have an older group of girls on the JV team. The expecta- tions are really high for this group, and all of them contribute to the varsity game as well. We are bringing in designated players, pinch hitters, pinch runners, relief pitching and every girl in the dugout is busy doing a job during the games. This keeps us all fo- cused on what is happening at all times," said Richardson.