By Mark Carpenter-
It was a profitable early part of the week for Coach Rob Meade and his North Adams Green Devils baseball squad, mainly because of two performances for the pitcher’s mound. On Monday, April 29, the Devils hosted the Peebles Indians and sophomore right hander Seth Meade was nearly perfect, throwing a no-hitter, with the Indians only managing two base runners the entire game.
The nest day, the Devils hosted West Union in a Southern Hills Athletic Conference battle that would go a long way towards determining who might grab second place in the big school division behind champion Lynchburg. The dragons went into Tuesday with a one-game lead over North Adams for the second spot, but that disappeared after a complete game performance by senior righty Ethan Thompson helped the home team to a 4-2 win, as the Devils scored three times in their final two at-bats off of West Union ace Brandan Cornell.
Meade’s stat line on Monday was a very impressive one, seven inning, no hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. Peebles only put two runners on base the entire game. The first hitter of the game, Dawson Mills, reached on an error, but was thrown out stealing and in the top of the third, Indians’ left fielder Wyatt Cluxton also reached on an error and from that point on, Meade retired the final 14 Peebles hitters in finishing off his gem.
“Seth was very efficient today, a complete game on 67 pitches,” said Coach Meade of his son’s outing on the mound. “A big key for him was getting ahead in the count and as a team, we’ve been talking all season about the importance of first pitch strikes and he demonstrated that today with a nearly 68% strike percentage. The defense was solid behind him and it was a good team effort.”
The Devils got all the offense that Meade needed in the bottom of the first when Thompson was hit by a pitch by Peebles starter Dustin Rutherford. Thompson proceeded to steal second and came home on a base hit to left by Zach Osborne.
It remained a one-run game until the Devils came to bat in their half of the fourth, when they added two more to their advantage. Cade Meade singled and later scored on a passed ball, while Evan Whalen also singled and came home on a Peebles throwing error.
The Devils added the final two runs of the game in the fifth with Dalton Gardner and Elijah Young crossing the plate and with a five-run cushion, Meade set down the Indians in order in the final two at-bats, getting Franklin Myers on a ground ball to shortstop for the final out in the first no-hitter of his high school career and the 11th win of the season for the Green Devils.
Victorious North Adams banged out 11 hits in the win, three of those from Cade Meade and two from Osborne.
Peebles
000 000 0 —0
North Adams
100 220 x —5
Peebles Offense (AB-R-H-RBI): Mills 3-0-0-0, Johnson 3-0-0-0, Wesley 3-0-0-0, F. Myers 3-0-0-0, Barr 2-0-0-0, Kyle 2-0-0-0, Mahan 2-0-0-0, Cluxton 2-0-0-0, Jones 2-0-0-0, Team 22-0-0-0.
N. Adams Offense (AB-R-H-RBI): Gardner 3-1-1-0, Thompson 3-1-1-0, Young 3-1-1-0, Osborne 4-0-2-1, C. Meade 3-1-3-0, Whalen 2-1-1-1, S. Meade 3-0-0-0, Hall 3-0-0-0, Bunn 2-0-1-0, Roades 1-0-1-0, Team 27-5-11-2.
Peebles Pitching:
Rutherford (L) 4.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 85 pitches
Barr 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 20 pitches
N. Adams Pitching:
S. Meade (W) 7 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 67 pitches
On Tuesday, the West Union Dragons traveled to Seaman for the first conference match up of the season between the two county rivals and it was a pitching duel between Thompson and Cornell, broken open late by the Devils in a 4-2 win.
Both teams picked up first inning scores and the game stayed tied at one until the Devils came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Gardner blooped one to short left, just out of the reach of West Union left fielder Zane Kingsolver, and the hustling Gardner ended up on second base with a double. After a walk to Thompson, Gardner took off for third and when the throw got by the Dragons’ third baseman, the speedy North Adams lead off hitter came home with the go-ahead run, with Thompson advancing to third. Thompson moving up the extra base proved crucial as Elijah Young laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to bring home the runner for a 3-1 Devils lead.
The Dragons got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth on a run-scoring fielder’s choice off the bat of Brycen Staten, but the home side picked up a very important insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Cade Meade lashed a lead off double to center and came home on a long two-bagger to right by R.J. Taylor.
Now down by two and down to their last three outs, the Dragons threatened in the top of the seventh with one out singles by Kingsolver and Ryan Rothwell, but Thompson got Alex Hirsch on a fly ball to right and then recorded the game’s final out by getting Cornell to pop up to Gardner at third base and the Devils had forged into a second place tie with the 4-2 triumph.
In the loss, the Dragons got three hits from their lead off man Kingsolver, while the Devils got a pair from their lead off man Gardner, the only players on the day with multi-hit efforts. Both starters went the distance, Thompson getting the win and Cornell being tagged with the loss.
After Tuesday’s game, both North Adams and West Union had four league losses, and the two teams were scheduled to meet again on Friday, May 3 in West Union, with that outcome likely deciding who takes home the second place hardware.
West Union
100 001 0 —2
North Adams
100 021 x —4
W. Union Offense (AB-R-H-RBI): Kingsolver 4-1-3-0, Rothwell 3-0-1-0, Hirsch 4-0-1-0, Cornell 3-1-1-0, Pollard 2-0-1-1, Staten 3-0-0-1, Whaley 3-0-0-0, Grooms 3-0-0-0, Madden 3-0-1-0, Team 28-2-8-2.
N. Adams Offense (AB-R-H-RBI): Gardner 3-1-2-0, Thompson 2-2-1-0, Young 3-0-1-1, Osborne 3-0-1-0, C. Meade 3-1-1-0, Whalen 2-0-0-0, Taylor 3-0-1-1, Myers 2-0-0-0, Bunn 3-0-0-0, Team 24-4-7-2.
Extra-Base Hits: Gardner 2B, C. Meade 2B, Taylor 2B
W. Union Pitching:
Cornell (L) 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 88 pitches
N. Adams Pitching:
Thompson (W) 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 89 pitche
