The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1466814
B-2 Wednesday, May 4, 2022 The Press-Dispatch tral. That brought Sorgius to the plate, and the deter- mined Charger pitching ace immediately slapped a single to score White- head, narrowing the Tiger lead to 2-1. The Tiger pitcher got the next Charger on strikes for the second out of the inning, and the final out came a pop up to the catcher to end the game. "It was a great high school baseball game for the fans, with every pitch having meaning, but it was a very tough loss for us," breathed Charger Coach Dustin Powell af- ter the heart-stopping per- formance of his team, "but we again played very well today. "Sorgius was again very good on the mound. He gave them very little to hit. "He was on top of his pitches, and on most days, we would have won with that kind of effort and per- formance. "Our team continues to improve, and they have not gotten down on some very tough losses. They come right back and give a total effort." Both teams had six hits on the day, with Whitehead leading the Pike Central effort with a double and a single in four at bats, while Evan Conder had a pair of singles in four trips to the plate for the Chargers. Sorgius and Zack Mill- er each had a single in the fray, with Sorgius go- ing one for two at the plate with a pair of walks, while Miller had one base knock in four at bats. In addition to the two walks by Sorgius, sopho- more Kannon Garcia had two walks on the day for the hosts. The Chargers, now 2- 10 on the 2022 campaign and 0 -4 in Pocket Athlet- ic Conference (PAC) con- tests, are scheduled to play conference rival Tecumseh Thursday evening at 4:30 p.m. at Pike Central. Middle school tennis betters Wood 4-1 Drops 5-0 match to Raiders A Monday 4-1 win over Wood Memorial was fol- lowed up with a 4-1 win on April 28 where the number two singles was a loss. In the previous match up, the Lady Trojans prevailed in a 7-8 win over Kyndall Mc- Cutchan. This time Wood scored a 2-8 win at num- ber two singles against La- dy Charger Amelia Adams. Alyssa McCutchan scored an 8 -0 win in the number one singles match and Kyndall McCutchan claimed a 8 -6 win at the number three singles post. The team of Calleigh Web- beler and Emily McGil- lem scored a 8 -6 win in the number one doubles match. Ellie Arnold and Elle Readle posted a 8 -3 win over the Lady Trojans in number two doubles ac- tion. Wood claimed four JV doubles matches with Pa- tience Haycraft and Alivia Weitkamp falling 4-6. The Southridge Lady Raiders grabbed a 5 -0 var- sity win but two junior var- sity doubles teams claimed wins. In number one sin- gles, Alyssa McCutchan fell 0 -8 at number one sin- gles and Amelia Adkins lost 5 -8 in the number two singles match. Kyndall Mc- Cutchan lost a 4-8 contest to Wood in the number three singles pairing. Patience Haycraft and Calleigh Wibbeler fell to the Lady Trojans 0 -8 at the number one doubles court. Elle Readle and El- lie Arnold lost to Wood 2- 8 in the number two dou- bles match. Alivia Weitkamp and Al- yssa McCutchan won a ju- nior varsity doubles match 4-2 and Amelia Adams and Elle Arnold notched a 6 -0 in JV action. Chargers fall to Forest Park By Mike Sandifar The Pike Central Charger Baseball team fell to Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC) opponent Forest Park in Ferdinand by an 18 -1 score on Tuesday, April 26th, in a game that once again found the Chargers having "one bad inning". Throughout the 2022 base- ball season, Pike Central has played overall good baseball. However, in all but one game this year, the young Chargers have had "one bad inning", where they gave up several runs, and the contest with the Rangers was no different. Forest Park scored a run in the bottom of the first inning to take a quick 1-0 lead, but Pike Central came right back in the top of the second in- ning to knot the score at 1-1. In the bottom of the sec- ond frame, the Rangers came away with another score to take a 2-1 advantage after two innings of baseball. The Chargers could not push a run across the plate in their half of the third in- ning to trail by the 2-1 score heading into the bottom half of the third inning. That is when the Rangers "put the game away" by scor- ing 11 runs to take a 13-1 lead after three innings. Pike Central did not score over the final three innings of the game, while the eventual winners came back with an- other five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to push the insurmountable lead to 18 -1, and after the Char- gers could not add any runs in the top of the fifth frame, the game was called by the 10 -run rule. Pike Central managed six hits off the tough Rang- er pitching, with senior Evan Conder going two for two at the plate, while freshman Al- bert Whitehead, junior Isaac Burdette, and sophomores Kannon Garcia, and Zack Miller each banged out a sin- gle for the Chargers. The loss left Pike Central with a 1-8 overall season re- cord, including an 0 -3 mark in conference games, while the victory gave Forest Park a 9 -3 mark, including an unde- feated 5 -0 league record, on the 2022 diamond campaign. The Chargers played PAC foe Southridge on Thursday evening at Pike Central, then hosted Shoals in a non-con- ference outing on Friday, before traveling to Prince- ton on Saturday for another non-conference battle. Chargers cheered on to Homecoming win By Mike Sandifar Pike Central gave fans plenty to cheer about Friday in the Chargers' Spring Homecoming event with an 11-1 victory over visiting Shoals in non-conference high school baseball action. The victory was the second in 11 outings for the Chargers, with junior Isaac Burdette get- ting the victory on the mound. "We played very well this afternoon." said Pike Central Coach Dustin Powell after the win, "We hit the ball, and we made some tough plays in the field. It was just a complete game, both on the offensive side of the baseball and on the defensive side. "Burdette was really good for us on the mound. He mixed up his pitches and kept the Shoals batters off balance throughout the game" Burdette put the Jug Rox down in order, without a threat, in the top of the first inning, while in the bottom of the first frame, the Char- gers scored two runs to take a quick 2-0 lead. Burdette continued his dominance over Shoals in the second inning, once again fac- ing just three batters, and in the fourth frame, the junior hurler faced just four batters. The Jug Rox got to Burdette for a run in the top of the fourth inning to narrow the score to 2-1. Shoals held the Chargers without a run in second, third, and fourth innings, but in the bottom of the fifth inning, Pike Central's bats came alive and pushed five runs across the plate to up the hosts' lead to 7-1. Those five runs came from hits by Burdette, freshmen Albert Whitehead and Parker Knust, sophomores Zack Miller and Kannon Garcia, and juniors Kendric Sorgius and Jagar Dent. Burdette held the Jug Rox without a run in the visitors' half of the sixth inning to keep the score at 7-1. The Chargers once again hit the ball all over the park in the bottom half of the sixth inning to score another four runs, giving the hosts an 11-1 advantage that ended the game, due to the IHSA A 10 -run rule. Pike Central pounded out 12 hits in the non-conference battle, while Burdette held Shoals to just three hits in his six trips to the mound. Freshman Albert Whitehead went three for four at the plate on the day, while sopho- mores Zack Miller and Kannon Garcia and ju- nior Jagar Dent all had two hits in three offi- cial at bats. Junior Kendric Sorgius had one hit in two official trips to the plate. Sorgius also worked the Jug Rox pitching staff for a pair of walks. Miller also had two free passes to first base, while Garcia and Dent each drew a walk. The win put Pike Central at 2-9 on the 2022 diamond campaign, including 0 -5 in the Pock- et Athletic Conference (PAC). The Chargers hosted conference rival Princ- eton at Pike Central on Saturday. Albert Whitehead hammers a base hit to left field in last Friday's Pike Central 11-1 victory over Shoals High School. Pike Central Senior Harley May snares this line drive in last Friday's 11-1 victory over Shoals High School in a game played at Pike Central. Sophomore Zack Miller scores one of Pike Central's 11 runs in last Friday's 11-1 non-conference win over visiting Shoals High School. Chargers run into tough competition By Mike Sandifar Coach Dustin Powell's Pike Central Baseball Team once again found tough going on the diamond against visiting Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC) opponent Southridge last Thursday evening, as the Chargers fell to the Raiders 6 -1 to fall to 1-9 on the year, including 0 -4 in league play. Junior Isaac Burdette led the Chargers at the plate with a pair of singles in four at bats, while sophomore Zack Miller went one for two, fol- lowed by senior Evan Conder with a one for three day at the plate, and freshman Albert Whitehead finished the day with one hit in four at bats. The Chargers were sched- uled to play Shoals High School on Friday evening at Pike Central in a Spring Homecoming event. Pike Central was sched- uled to travel to Ft. Branch on Tuesday evening for a PAC outing with Gibson Southern. PCHS is scheduled to tan- gle with the Braves of Tecum- seh High School tomorrow evening at 5:30 p.m. at Pike Central. BASEBALL Continued from page 1 DRAW Continued from page 1 defending state champion Southridge will play in game four with the next game be- ing the championship game. Pike Central is 2-10 on the season. "I think it is a very bal- anced sectional. The way this plays out is good for us, in having three quality pitch- ers. I think our record is very deceiving going in. We are a few cleaner defensive innings from being a .500 or better ball team," said Pike Central baseball coach Dustin Pow- ell. "I like the draw. I think it will be a very nice couple days of baseball at a quality ball park. It should be a fun one to watch, top to bottom," said Powell. The sectional will be played between May 25 and May 30. Times and dates are to be announced later.