By Mark Carpenter-

The early part of this week turned out to be quite successful for Coach Rob Meade and his North Adams Green Devils varsity baseball squad as they picked up two wins in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, both on their home field, which is widely considered one of the finest fields in southern Ohio. On Monday, April 1, the Devils hosted the Fairfield Lions and behind the pitching of Elijah Young, made a two-run third inning stand up in a 2-0 victory. The following day was a little easier as the Devils hosted the struggling Ripley Blue Jays and blasted the Jays 20-1 in a five-inning run rule decision.
In the Fairfield win, the big story was the effort on the mound by the senior Young, who hurled a seven inning, complete game, four-hit shutout, issuing just a single walk while fanning four Fairfield batters, and using a very efficient 76 pitches to get the job accomplished. Young outdueled Fairfield starter Sam Buddelmeyer in crisply played game that saw the Devils commit just one error and make all the defensive plays when they needed to.
“Today was a good ball game, quick, people swinging bats and putting balls in play, and good defense,” said Coach Meade in a postgame radio interview. “Fairfield is a good ball club and Buddelmeyer had our number again today and we were fortunate to push a couple of runs across and our pitching and defense were good enough to make it stick.”
“I was pleased with how we ran the bases today and it’s no secret that our success starts at the top of the lineup with Gardner, Thompson, and Young setting the table.”
Young retired the Lions in order in the first and second frames and the only base runner for either team through two was North Adams’ Zach Osborne, who reached on an error. Fairfield got a one-out single in the top of the third, the first hit of the game, but Young retired the next two hitters to preserve the scoreless deadlock and bring his offense to the dish in the bottom half of the inning.
Montgomery Myers led off the North Adams third with a base hit to left and moved to second on a Carson Hall ground out. The first and ultimately deciding run of the game came when a Dalton Gardner single to left brought Myers across the plate. Gardner moved to second on an Ethan Thompson ground out and after the speedy center fielder swiped third, Young walked, and the two pulled off the double steal that sent Gardner home to make it 2-0 Devils.
When Young went back to the mound in the top of the fourth, he now had a two-run cushion to work with and continued to put zeroes on the Fairfield side of the board. The Lions got a runner to third in the top half of the fifth , but he was left stranded when Young got the inning’s final out on a ground ball to first baseman Seth Meade. In the top of the sixth, the Lions got a two-out double to center from Buddelmeyer, but Young again worked out of trouble by getting a fly ball to right fielder Evan Whalen for the final out.
The biggest threat of the day for the visiting Lions came in their final at-bat in the top of the seventh. Andrew Dingey led off with a two-base hit to left and advanced to third on a base hit to left by Ethan Grooms, putting the tying runs on base with no outs. Young began the road out of trouble with a strikeout and then got the second out of the inning, getting Layne Morgan on a pop out to first baseman Meade. With two down and the tying runs in scoring position, Young got pinch hitter Nathan Vidourek on a fly ball to Whalen in right and the Devils had their second win of the season in shutout fashion, blanking the Lions 2-0.
The two teams combined for just seven hits in the well-pitched game on both sides, and the Devils only had three of those base knocks but were able to push across the game’s only two scores in the decisive third inning, mainly with the bat and speed of center fielder Dalton Gardner.
“Elijah did just a super job for us tonight,” said Coach Meade. “Coming into the season, I don’t think Elijah really wanted to pitch a whole lot and he has been our starting shortstop since his freshman year. He can also catch and I knew we needed him today to win a conference game and I was pretty confident with him out there.”

Fairfield
000 000 0 —0
North Adams
002 000 x —2

Fairfield Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Setty 3-0-0-0, Willey 2-0-0-0, Buddelmeyer 2-0-1-0, Morgan 3-0-0-0, Dingey 3-0-1-0, Grooms 3-0-1-0, Irvin 3-0-0-0, Morgan 3-0-1-0, Friend 2-0-0-0, Vidourek 1-0-0-0, Team 25-0-4-0.
Extra-Base Hits: Buddelmeyer 2B, Dingey 2B

N. Adams Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Gardner 3-1-1-1, Thompson 3-0-1-0, Young 2-0-0-0, Osborne 3-0-0-0, S. Meade 3-0-0-0, Taylor 2-0-0-0, Whalen 2-0-0-0, Myers 2-1-1-0, Hall 2-0-0-0, Team 22-2-3-1.

Fairfield Pitching:
Buddelmeyer (L) 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 76 pitches
N. Adams Pitching:
Young (W) 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 76 pitches

Back in SHAC action the following day, things went a bit easier for the Green Devils as they put 20 runs on the board in just four at-bats and pitchers Zach Osborne, R.J. Taylor, and Montgomery Myers combined to throw a five inning no-hitter as North Adams breezed by Ripley by a final score of 20-1. The win put the Devils over the .500 mark at 3-2 on the season, 2-2 in conference play.
Besides being the winning pitcher, Osborne was big at the plate, going 2 for 3, scoring 3 runs, driving home 5, and blasting a third inning home run. The Devils got two hits apiece from Ethan Thompson, Evan Whalen, and Montgomery Myers in the blowout win.
N. Adams Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Gardner 3-3-1-0, Lung 0-0-0-0, Thompson 2-3-2-1, Young 2-3-0-1, Osborne 3-3-2-5, S. Meade 3-1-0-2, Taylor 3-1-1-1, Wylie 0-2-0-0, Whalen 3-2-2-1, Roades 1-0-0-0, Myers 4-2-2-3, Hall 3-0-1-1, Roush 1-0-0-0, Bunn 0-0-0-0, Rapp 0-0-0-0, Team 28-20-11-15.

N. Adams Pitching:
Osborne (W) 2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 45 pitches
Taylor 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 21 pitches
Myers 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, 20 pitches

North Adams catcher Carson Hall, left, and pitcher Zach Osborne try to avoid colliding while chasing down a foul pop up in the Green Devils’ 20-1 win over Ripley on Tuesday at NAHS. (Photo by Mark Carpenter.
Pitching in relief, North Adams right hander R.J. Taylor delivers one plateward in the Devils’ 20-1 win over Ripley on April 2. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)