By Mark Carpenter-
For the third time this spring, Coach Rob Meade and his North Adams Green Devils varsity baseball squad took their show on the road to the VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, playing an out of conference contest to possibly prepare for a district tournament trip back to the VA. The Devils had split their two earlier trips, downing Northwest 12-0 and losing to Green 3-1, and on Tuesday they faced the Eagle of Eastern Pike High School.
The Devils made it two out of three at the VA as they again rode the pitching arm of senior Elijah Young and a 10-hit offensive attack to run rule the Eagle in five innings by a final count of 10-0. Young has made the turf mound at the VA his home away from home as Tuesday was his second shutout of the season there, this time a one-hit effort. Though he may be small in stature, North Adams second baseman Colby Bunn led the Devils offense with a 3 for 3 day, also scoring two runs. “ ”I thought we played very well today,” said Coach Meade. “We were great on defense and made some difficult plays, but more importantly we made the routine ones. Offensively, we had a great plate discipline and were able to string some hits together.”
The game was scoreless through the first three half innings until the Devils broke through will all the runs that Young needed, scoring four times in the bottom of the second. A bases full single to right by Carson Hall scored the first two runs and then a perfectly placed bunt by Bunn filled the bags again. That resulted in two more runs later scoring on an Eastern error for the 4-0 North Adams advantage.
The Devils added another unearned run in the bottom of the third and then two more in the bottom of the fourth, one of those coming when Dalton Gardner stole home on a double steal play. The Devils came to bat in the bottom of the fifth needing three runs to bring the game to an early close and they got them, one with Lukas Roush scoring on a passed ball and another on an RBI single by Ethan Thompson. Young must have been ready to pack his right arm in for the night as he came to bat with the bases loaded and looped a single to center that scored Bunn with the 10th run of the game, sending the Devils home with their 10th victory of the season in run rule fashion.
The Devils are now 10-6 on the spring and were scheduled to face Eastern Brown in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play on Friday, a game that was cancelled on Thursday because of rain. On Tuesday, April 30, it will be Senior Night at NAHS as they Devils will host county rival West Union,
Eastern Pike
000 00 —0
North Adams
041 23 —10
N. Adams Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Gardner 2-1-0-0, Thompson 3-0-1-1, Young 3-0-2-1, Osborne 3-0-1-0, C. Meade 1-2-0-0, Myers 2-1-1-0, Roush 2-2-1-0, Hall 2-2-1-2, Bunn 3-2-20, Wylie 0-0-0-0, Team 21-10-10-4.
N. Adams Pitching:
Young (W) 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 48 pitches
