In the Media: Huskies' hot streak halted by Newport
AURORA — North Marion had its five-game winning streak snapped on Friday at North Marion High School, as the Huskies dropped a pair of games in a doubleheader with Newport.
The Huskies made six errors in the two games to suffer their first losses since falling in the season opener on March 15.
Newport came from behind to win the early game, 6-5, and then jumped out to an early advantage in the second game, to ride out an 11-0 win in five innings.
Earlier in the week, North Marion swept three games at the Huskies’ spring break tournament.
In the first game against Newport, the Huskies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, before the Cubs scored six unanswered runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. The Huskies got two back in the bottom of the sixth inning, and put themselves in position to tie, or win, the game in the seventh.
However, North Marion’s Ian Moore was thrown out at the plate attempting to score the tying run.
North Marion coach Randy Brack credited the Cubs for stepping up to make a great defensive play when they needed it. It was the second time North Marion had a runner thrown out at home during the game.
Offensively, the Huskies actually out-hit the visiting Cubs. Moore, Jordan Miller and Joe Piercey all had two hits apiece for North Marion, which tallied nine total hits, compared to just four by Newport.
Piercey also stole three bases.
North Marion’s A.J. Miller allowed four runs on three hits and four walks during five innings on the hill. Robert Ramirez pitched the final two innings, allowing two runs, on two hits and three walks.
While the first game was close throughout, Newport took advantage of the Huskies’ defensive nightmare to win the second game easily.
After committing just eight errors in seven previous games, the Huskies racked up four errors in the five-inning blowout.
Brack said there was a mental letdown in that game that the team cannot afford.
“Hopefully, we’re going to learn from that,” he said.
“We actually hit the ball pretty decent, we just didn’t get a lot of timely hits,” he added.
After a solid performance earlier in the year against Astoria, Kip Pearson allowed four runs in one inning of work on Friday.
“He felt good going out to it, and everybody felt good about having him go out there, but then he went out there and struggled in the first inning, and didn’t get a couple plays made behind him and that affected him a little bit,” said Brack.
Brandon Hopper threw the final four innings, allowing six runs on five hits and four walks.
“(Newport) has some guys that can swing the bat and make some plays, and we’ve got to be able to play at that level,” said Brack.
This week, North Marion (5-3 overall) will begin Capital Conference play, with games scheduled against Estacada on Tuesday and Cascade on Wednesday.
Brack said he expects Gladstone and Cascade to be two of the Huskies’ tougher opponents, with the league’s other teams battling it out in the standings.
With the inclement weather of the early season, Brack said North Marion’s pitching depth could be invaluable if games start to get rained out.
“Right now, I feel good about us, because we’ve got so much pitching,” he said.
“I’ve got more pitching than I’ve ever had before, and guys that I can feel confident in. I feel good about that.”