HILLSBOROUGH — Northwood held Green Level scoreless in five innings and overcame a down night at the plate to beat the Gators 4-3 in the Hilltop Invitational at Orange High School Friday.
“It’s always tough following a 19-hit outing that we had on Wednesday night,” Northwood coach Brent Haynes said. “I thought we had some really good approaches, battled back in 0-2 counts, got some walks out of 0-2 counts, hit some fastballs when they presented themselves.”
With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, junior Camden Miller knocked freshman Brody Zsuppan home for the go-ahead run. Facing two outs, senior Kaleb Howell followed the score with a single of his own to send senior Simon Delgado home and give Northwood a two-run advantage. The Chargers never lost the lead for the rest of the evening.
“Sometimes it just doesn’t show up in the hit column, but we got it done in the win column which is all I care about,” Haynes said.
Miller, who replaced sophomore Finn Sullivan on the mound in the fifth, oversaw one run (zero earned runs) and allowed just two hits to help Northwood build and maintain its lead in the final three innings.
“I kind of knew I had to attack,” Miller, whose dad is Green Level baseball coach David Miller, said. “I know that on paper they’re not the best hitting team, so just trying to throw strikes and let the defense work behind me.”
Zsuppan made his impact as a baserunner, leading the team with two runs. After notching a single in the second at bat of the fifth inning, Zsuppan set up the go-ahead run by stealing second base and advancing to third on a passed ball during Delgado’s turn.
“We’re aggressive on the base paths, so trying to get him into scoring position for those guys at the top is key,” Haynes said.
Prior to the decisive inning, Northwood slowly dug itself out of an early 2-0 hole.
Sullivan didn’t have the best start as hitting a batter, giving up a double and giving up a single in the game’s first three at bats led to Green Level’s first two runs. However, he quickly settled in, retiring five batters and allowing just one hit in the rest of his stint.
The Chargers’ defense was also crisp throughout the evening when it came to getting batters out. Delgado, the shortstop, was sharp on his throws to first, and sophomore Nic Armstrong made a difficult catch in left field to avoid a momentum swing in the top of the third. Northwood faced no more than four batters per inning from the second to the fifth.
“We always talk, ‘make routine plays,’” Haynes said. “That’s all we preach, and they did that.”
Chatham Central also played in the Hilltop Invitational losing its second game to Orange 11-1 Friday night.
Down 2-1 after the top of the third, the Bears gave up six runs in the bottom of the inning. The Panthers scored three more runs in the bottom of the fourth and held Chatham Central scoreless in its next batting turn to secure the fifth-inning victory.
Senior Dominic O’Keefe went 2-for-2 from the plate and recorded three RBIs for the Panthers while senior Eli Horton notched a team-high four RBIs.
Chatham Central got two Orange batters out to start the bottom of the third inning, but after sophomore DJ Woods was hit by a pitch, the Panthers reached a base in seven straight at bats.
The most damaging play in that stretch came from Horton who, on a 3-2 count, sent a pitch deep to left field to bring in three runs and give the Panthers a 6-1 lead.
The Bears had a much more memorable outing in the first game on April 3 against Green Level, though.
Down 4-2 with just one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, senior Reid Albright doubled and sent in three runs for the walk-off victory. The win snapped a six-game losing streak.
On a night in which Chatham Central only came away with three hits, Albright’s heroics were fitting, considering he had two of them (Carson Jackson was the only other Bear with a hit).
On the mound, senior Benjamin Wilson, senior Brady Phillips and sophomore Brett Phillips all contributed to a solid team pitching performance.
Taking over for his brother after the Gators went up 4-2 in the top of the seventh, Brett Phillips closed the inning with two outs, including a strikeout on a 3-2 count.