Defensive plays bail out Huskies in 4-2 win
AURORA - In part two of a three-game season series, Madras squandered several scoring opportunities and failed to come back from an early deficit. The Huskies defense came up big as North Marion went on to claim a 4-2 victory on a cool Monday evening from Bob Brack Stadium. With the victory, the Huskies improved to 17-4 overall and 7-3 in Tri-Valley Conference play, while the White Buffaloes dropped to 4-16 overall and 0-10 in conference, still searching for the elusive first conference victory.
In four consecutive innings, Madras got their first two runners on base, in a prime position to put runs on the board in each inning. However, the Huskies defense kept the White Buffaloes relatively quiet, relying on several fantastic plays to limit Madras to just two runs on the evening.
In the top of the third, the Buffs' scoring threat was smothered after Kyle Williamson made a brilliant double play, gloving a hard-hit line drive before eventually throwing out a runner at second base. An infield pop-out and strikeout ended the fourth. A leadoff triple in the fifth inning was erased after a great defensive play by Emry Patterson to throw a runner out on a 5-3 groundout, followed by another infield pop out. Madras' damage was limited to just one run in the sixth after two infield ground outs and a strikeout.
The White Buffaloes out-hit the Huskies 8-5, however, Madras left ten runners on base - nine of which were stranded in scoring position.
North Marion - adept at scoring early - picked up a pair of runs in the first inning largely in part to a leadoff double by Kyle Williamson. Patterson picked up an RBI after reaching on an error, and would come around to score the second run of the inning on an RBI by Tristan Wampole.
The Huskies lead was momentarily cut to 2-1, but single tallies in the third and fourth innings gave North Marion a 4-1 lead. Wampole skied a fly ball to deep center to score Brock Breshears on a sac fly in the third, while Williamson also brought in a run via a sac fly in the fourth.
Hunter Beachy (2-1, 1.15) got the nod on the mound for the Huskies, his first start in conference play. He allowed eight hits and walked three over five innings before Jordan Kendall (4-1, 1.56) was brought on in relief, recording the six final outs in order.
After tying a season-high hits mark on Thursday at Madras, the Huskies recorded their second-lowest hit total in league play on Monday. North Marion's three double plays in the game set a new season high mark.
Next up, the Huskies travel to Molalla on Wednesday for a 6:30pm matchup with the Indians, kicking off the final run through league play. North Marion handled the Indians with relative ease in the first two matchups, winning by scores of 9-1 and 8-1. Following Wednesday's game is a highly anticipated meeting with La Salle, at North Marion on Friday.