PITTSBORO — Jordan-Matthews made history while picking up an important conference win at Northwood Friday.
The Jets beat the Chargers, 10-7, collecting their first win over Northwood since 2014, the last season in which the Jets swept its cross-county foe.
“It feels really good,” J-M head coach Will Felder said. “We got a great start on the mound. Defense was a little shaky, but we came through, made the plays that we really needed to and our guys really stepped up at the plate tonight.”
J-M only connected for five hits in its first meeting with Northwood earlier in the week, which resulted in an 11-4 loss. In the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference rematch Friday, the Jets more than doubled that, recording 11 hits on the night.
Facing Northwood freshman pitcher Finn Sullivan on the mound, J-M’s hitters got going in the opening inning. Immediately after senior Ian McMillan opened the game with a flyout, junior Eduardo Gutierrez singled to right field. Sophomore Landon Moser followed that with a double to send Gutierrez to third base.
Gutierrez safely made it home after Northwood’s catcher mishandled a pitch during senior Kelton Fuquay’s at-bat. Fuquay did even more damage by also singling to send Moser home for a 2-0 lead.
The Jets held on to that advantage until the bottom of the second inning, in which Northwood’s bats started to come alive.
Freshman Josh Johnson singled a pitch from junior Quinn Woolford to left field, and two at-bats later, sophomore Dylan Perry brought him home with a triple.
With two outs, Sullivan stepped up to the plate, and a pitch mishandled by J-M’s catcher this time brought Perry home for the tying run. Shortly after, Sullivan sent a pitch deep to center field as the ball hit the fence before bouncing back into play.
While Sullivan rounded third base, an errant throw from the short stop to the third baseman sent the ball into the Northwood dugout, allowing Sullivan to easily score a run and give the Chargers a 3-2 lead.
But, that was short lived as the Jets got it right back, and then some, in the top of the third inning. Following two allowed doubles and two strikeouts by Sullivan, the Chargers were still in good shape with the game tied at three runs a-piece. Yet, two straight walks loaded the bases for the Jets with the top of their batting lineup quickly approaching.
Senior Neil Wiley singled to bring in two runners and regain a 5-3 lead for J-M. But, McMillan, the lead-off hitter, took it further in the very next at-bat by taking the first pitch for a double to left field, sending Wiley and senior Payton White home.
Northwood had to change its pitcher to senior Jake Leighton after Sullivan hit Gutierrez by a pitch in the next at-bat, but the Jets kept going, ending the inning with a 9-3 lead.
“That saying that hitting is contagious, I mean you could see it right there,” McMillian said about the third inning. “It was just hit after hit and the momentum just kept going. Everybody was just having great at-bats and putting the ball in play, and great things happen when you do that.”
Northwood slowly chipped away at the lead in the following innings, getting it down to a three-run game in the bottom of the fourth after another Sullivan hit brought in a runner. In the next three at-bats, Woolford was faced with three straight 3-2 counts, coming away with two strikeouts to help hold the Chargers at bay.
With freshman pitcher Gavin Davis taking over for Woolford in the bottom of the sixth inning, Northwood got one more run to cut the deficit to just two.
J-M stretched its run total to 10 with zero outs in the top of the seventh after a bunt from Fuquay sent Gutierrez home. But, following an intentional walk for Woolford in the next at-bat, things went left fast.
With bases loaded, a short hit from junior Jake Bowden got a runner out at home, but Moser, coming from second base, still rounded third base, getting himself caught in a pickle. Northwood got him out, too, and then immediately sent the ball over to put out Woolford, who also found himself in between bases during the wild play.
“Probably one of the wildest base running blunders I’ve seen in a long time,” Felder said. “We’re going to correct that.”
A worst case scenario for the Jets set up a potential game-winning inning for the Chargers. It was up to Davis, the freshman on the mound, to put Northwood away, but it turned out that he didn’t even have to complete a strikeout.
The Jets picked up two quick outs with a pop up caught by Fuquay and a flyout caught by Woolford. After a subsequent 3-2 count resulted in a walk, one more flyout put the game to rest.
