The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, May 25, 2022 B-3 Pike Central 2022 boys baseball team members are front row (l to r): Mason Gosciniak, Albert Whitehead, Nate Carter, Parker Knust, Eli Arnold, Kannon Garcia and Devin Carlisle. Back row: Jackson Stuckey, Gavin Pancake, Aron Johnson, Harley May, Kendric Sorgius, Evan Conder, No- ah Meece, Jagar Dent and Zack Miller. Not pictured is Alec Smith. CHARGER BASEBALL Good Luck at Sectionals A MBER M A NOR A Trilogy Senior Living Community CARE CENTER 801 E. Illinois St. Petersburg, IN 812-354-3001 ambermanorhc.com P.O. Box 67, Petersburg, IN 47567 812-354-9995 | www.fourstarfab.com Chargers! Glezen Revival Center Go 245 S. Glezen Center St. • Petersburg • 812-354-9909 2134 E MAIN STREET, PETERSBURG | C A L L 812 - 380 - 7453 Pike Central 2022 boys baseball team members are front row (l to r): Mason Gosciniak, Albert Whitehead, Nate Carter, Parker Knust, Eli Arnold, Kannon Garcia and Devin Carlisle. Back row: Jackson Stuckey, Gavin Pancake, Aron Johnson, Harley May, Kendric Sorgius, Evan Conder, No- ah Meece, Jagar Dent and Zack Miller. Not pictured is Alec Smith. CHARGER BASEBALL Good Luck at Sectionals A MBER M A NOR A Trilogy Senior Living Community CARE CENTER 801 E. Illinois St. Petersburg, IN 812-354-3001 ambermanorhc.com P.O. Box 67, Petersburg, IN 47567 812-354-9995 | www.fourstarfab.com Chargers! Glezen Revival Center Go 2134 E MAIN STREET, PETERSBURG | C A L L 812 - 380 - 7453 Chargers fall to Braves By Mike Sandifar Coach Dustin Powell's Pike Central Charger Base- ball Team traveled to Lynn- ville last Wednesday after- noon to take on the Braves of Tecumseh, and though the Chargers committed just one error in the field, they could not find a way to consistently tag Tecumseh hurler Conner Anglin on the offensive side of the baseball. The result was an 11-1 Pocket Athletic Con- ference (PAC) loss to the host Braves. Anglin struck out six of the first seven Chargers he faced, and the Braves took a 5 -0 lead after just two innings. Neither team could put a run across home plate in the third inning, but in the fourth frame, both clubs scored a run to give Tecumseh a 6 -1 lead. In the top of the fifth, An- glin hit Pike Central senior Evan Conder on the ankle to put a runner on first for the Chargers. Conder had to be taken out of the game. He was replaced by senior Devin Carlisle. That brought senior Harley May to the plate, and he hit a fly ball to the right side of the field that was caught for the first out of the inning for PCHS. Sophomore Zack Miller was the next Charger to step into the batter's box for the Char- gers, and he slapped a hard ground ball that was clean- ly fielded by the Brave sec- ond sacker, junior Brody Ju- lian, who tossed to the short- stop for a force out at second of Carlisle. Freshman Noah Meece was the next Charger to face An- glin, and Meece hit a short fly ball to the right side of the field that was caught to end the top half of the inning. The hosts scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth frame, the final three coming after the Braves had two outs. With Tecumseh leading 10 -1, with two outs, and Ju- lian on second and Dax Bai- ley on first, Drew Dupont hit a line drive single to right field to send Julian home with the game-ending run,giving the Braves a 10 -run advantage at 11-1. Anglin held the Chargers to just four hits in his five innings on the mound for the Braves. He struck out seven Pike Cen- tral batters, six of them com- ing in the first two innings of the game, and he did not walk a Charger, though he did hit Conder. Two of the hits allowed by Anglin were doubles, one by sophomore Kannon Garcia and one by junior Kendric Sor- gius, while junior Isaac Bur- dette and sophomore Zach Miller each slapped a single to account for the four hits by Pike Central. The loss dropped Pike Cen- tral to 2-15, including 0 -10 in league play. The Chargers were sched- uled to host PAC opponent Boonville last Thursday after- noon, and on Saturday, Pike Central was slated to partici- pate in a tournament. Pike Central overtaken by Pioneers, 12-1 By Mike Sandifar Boonville jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning at Pike Central Friday evening, and the Pioneers never looked back, defeating the Chargers 12-1 in Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC) high school baseball play. Throughout the 2022 base- ball season, Pike Central has had some hard luck and heart-wrenching losses, but on this night, the Chargers were simply outplayed in the first two innings of the game. A fter scoring the three runs in the top of the first, the Pioneers put three more runs across the plate in the top of the second inning to take a 6 - 1 lead. PCHS pitcher Jagar Dent did not allow a run in the third or fourth innings, but the visi- tors did score two runs in the top of the fifth frame to up their advantage to 8 -1, but at that point, it was obvious that Dent was tiring. The hosts put together a hope in the bottom of the fifth inning, as the Chargers' Zack Miller hit a one-out single, the sophomore's second hit of the game, to put a runner on first base for Pike Central, the first runner for the hosts in three innings, the last runner being Miller's single in the bottom of the second inning. The next Charger was freshman Noah Meece, and the first-year varsity perform- er immediately stroked a sin- gle to move Miller to second. Boonville pitcher Dominic Sharp got the next Charger out on strikes to leave run- ners at first and second, with two outs. That brought sophomore Kannon Garcia to the plate for Pike Central, and Gar- cia worked Sharp for a walk, Garcia's second of the game against the Pioneer pitcher, to load the bases. But that was as close as the Chargers could get, as the next bat- ter was called out on a third strike. The called strike three was the 10th strikeout of the game for Sharp. Freshman Nate Carter re- lieved Dent with one out in the top of the 6th and fin- ished the game as the pitch- er for the Chargers over the last two-thirds of the top of the sixth frame. The visitors scored anoth- er four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 12-1 ad- vantage. Alec Kines, who re- lieved Sharp in the bottom of the sixth, faced four Charger batters and struck out three, ending the game. Pike Central had five hits in the fray, led by Miller's two hits, with junior Kendric Sorgius, senior Evan Conder, and freshman Noah Meece all getting a base knock in the game. The Chargers had three runners reach first via a walk, with Garcia getting a pair of free passes to first, and Car- ter working Kines for one walk. Sharp (10) and Kines (three) teamed up to strike out 13 Chargers in the six-in- ning league affair. Boonville was not charged with an error, while Pike Cen- tral had just two booted balls in the well-played outing. The loss dropped Pike Cen- tral to 3-18 on the 2022 dia- mond campaign, including 0 -12 in PAC action, but that record is deceiving, as the young Chargers (seven fresh- men, two sophomores, five ju- niors, and four seniors on the 18 -man roster) competed in all but four games throughout the season. And, fans must remember, the spring weather was bru- tal for any young team, as the Chargers had less than 10 outdoor practices before the first game, against Loo- gootee, where Pike Central fell 7-6 after leading 6 -1. It was "that kind of year" throughout the season, but the Chargers never dropped their heads, and when each new game started, the Char- gers competed hard in near- ly every game. "Next year" is sometimes an excuse or boring, but not the case of the Pike Central Charger Baseball Team—and this year is NOT over, as the Chargers will head into the Indiana High School Athlet- ic Association (IHSA A) as a dark horse this week. Senior Harley May (14) fires a curveball to home plate in last Wednesday's Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC) encounter with host Tecumseh. The Braves topped the Chargers 11-1. Pike Central freshman Noah Meece (2) moves to his left to field a ground ball in last Friday's Pocket Ath- letic Conference (PAC) outing against opponent Boon- ville at Pike Central. Pike Central junior Kendric Sorgius (11) slaps a base hit to right field in last Friday's 12-1 loss to Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC) opponent Boonville. Boyd wins pole vault state championship Pike Central's Grant Boyd won the pole vault event a the Indiana Middle School State Championships on Saturday. Boyd won the state meet at Indiana State Univer- sity clearing a height of 10'9". Boyd chose to enter the competition at 10 feet and cleared that. But due to storms in the area, the competition was delayed for 90 minutes. When the competition resumed, he cleared 10'3" and 10'6". The competition had narrowed to only Boyd and one other competitor trying to clear 10'9". Boyd cleared it to win the competition. He then attempt- ed to make 11'3", which would have broken his Pike Central school record of 11', but he was unsuccess- ful. "Grant is an outstanding kid who has worked real- ly hard on his pole vaulting over the last three years," said Eric Knight, who is Boyd's coach at Pike Cen- tral. Boyd was runner-up last year as a seventh grader. "I look forward to see what Grant can do during his high school career," said Knight.