NEW PALESTINE — With the potential of a plus-.500 stretch in the team’s first week of competition since 2019, New Palestine’s baseball program is willing to take some of the bad that came with the good.
On Friday, against Knightstown, the good offset the bad in a five-inning, 16-4 victory over the Panthers at New Palestine High School.
The Dragons scored 15 runs in their first two at-bats before committing five errors in a four-run Panther third inning.
Earlier in the week, New Palestine split a two-game Hoosier Heritage Conference series with Shelbyville. The Dragons are hoping to get that third win of the week this morning in a 10 a.m. start, at home, against Batesville.
“We hit the ball really well against Shelbyville (on Wednesday) and tonight against Knightstown,” head coach Shawn Lyons said. “Coach (Andrew) Armour and coach (Nick) Butcher have done a great job with our hitters and they’ve bought in. It has certainly shown the last two games.
“(The team) kind of lost focus up 15-0 and made some plays that we don’t normally make. We have to turn around and play tomorrow at 10. We had a tough outing (in a loss to Shelbyville) on Tuesday. If we could finish the week 3-1 after these guys being on spring break last week we’ll feel pretty good.”
In their first two plate appearances, New Palestine had six hits, all for extra bases. It had three triples in the first inning and a home run in each frame, including a grand slam in the second from senior center fielder Kaiden Kirkwood.
It gave more than a little breathing room for sophomore pitcher Wes Stiller, making his first varsity appearance.
“It was his first varsity game and he was a little nervous,” Lyons said. “He had a pretty good change-up and he’ll get better from this. He’s got a bright future. He’s got three pitches, a fastball, a change and a curveball and he can throw those any time in the count. I’m proud of him for his outing tonight.”
Stiller threw 3.0 innings and had seven strikeouts. He gave up three hits and only one of the runs given up was earned. His only trouble came in the third when his defense committed all five of its errors. Junior Eli Bruns threw 2.0 scoreless innings to wrap up the win. He struck out two.
With the aid of a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play, Stiller faced the minimum in his first inning of varsity work.
The Dragons answered with more than enough runs to secure the victory.
Carter Stogsdill’s leadoff triple was the first of three first-inning three-baggers. He scored on a wild pitch. Luke Legault walked and scored on a long home run to left field by senior Brendan Tabor. Nolan Cox and Blaine Nunnally each had an RBI-triple.
In the second, New Palestine scored eight on just two hits. The Dragons took advantage of six walks and one hit batsman. Five walks in, Kirkwood blasted his grand slam. Tabor’s double was the only other hit.
For the game, the Dragons had nine hits, seven were for extra bases. In the fourth, pinch-hitter Maddox Manes hit a double ahead of an RBI-single from pinch-hitter Tate Hackler. Zayden Stiller had the other New Pal hit.
The nine hits came from eight different players.
“We can hit one through nine (in the lineup). Our No. 8 hitter (Kirkwood) had a grand slam,” Lyons added. “We have a lot of competition and we’re trying to figure it out. We didn’t play last year, so we don’t have to get it right, lineup-wise, until May. We’re going to figure out. A lot of kids have played this week.”
Saturday’s game is the fourth of the week. Following a non-conference road game at Perry Meridian on Monday, the Dragons get back to conference play with a Tuesday-Wednesday HHC series with Yorktown. The home game of the series is on Tuesday.
