After a slow start, Coach Rob Meade and his North Adams Green Devils four of six outings at press time. (Photo by Jordan Carpenter)
West Union’s Jacob Day slides safely into second base as North Adams’ Caleb Rothwell waits for the throw in action from Friday, April 22, a 13-3 North Adams win. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
North Adams’ Ethan Taylor fires one to the plate in the Devils’ loss to Fayetteville on Saturday, April 23. (Photo by Jordan Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
For Coach Rob Meade and his North Adams Green Devils baseball squad, last week was a battle with a number of flying objects -Blue Jays, Dragons and Rockets. Two of those three battles came out on the plus side for the Devils while the third went the other direction.
Coach Meade’s troops struggled to beg in their season but have lately shown signs of slowly turning things around and one of those wins came on Wednesday, April 20 when the Devils traveled to Ripley to face the Blue Jays. North Adams took advantage of seven hits and six walks issued by Blue Jay pitching to post the run-rule 10-0 win in five innings.
For the Devils, the story of the win was a no-hit performance on the mound by sophomore right hander Caleb Rothwell, who allowed just four Ripley base runners, two via walks and two on North Adams errors, while fanning 10 Blue Jays in the five inning gem.
The North Adams offense took care of business early, scoring nine runs in their first three at-bats with Easton Daulton and Rothwell each collecting a pair of hits, with Lukas Roush driving home two. The Devils did have a scary moment when was plunked in the helmet by a pitch from Ripley’s Spencer Gray.
“Caleb had a big day for us, both on the mound and at the plate,” said Coach Meade. “He got in a rhythm and settled in nicely. I thought the team responded well and handled the adversity of the injuries. The hit by pitch was a scary moment but the guys didn’t let it get to them and they competed throughout the game.”
After an off day on Thursday, the Devils were back on their home field on Friday afternoon,hosting the West Union Dragons in another Southern Hills Athletic Conference affair. The Dragons were coming off their best performance of the season on the previous day, 1 4-3 loss at Peebles, but on Friday they looked like a totally different squad. The Dragons did have a 2-0 lead after touching up North Adams starter Brady Lung for a pair in the top of the first but from that point on it was all Devils as it took the home team six frames to enforce the run rule with a 13-3 triumph.
To silence the early Dragons’ roar, the Devils responded with three runs in each of their first four at-bats and then getting the needed 10-run margin with a run in the bottom of the sixth. North Adams pounded out 13 hits in the “W”, led by #8 and #9 hitters Ethan Taylor and Kelby Moore, who both went 3 for 4 and drove home a pair. Seven-hole hitter Nathan Parks was 2 for 4 and scored twice as the Devils claimed their fourth win of the spring.
It was another solid pitching day for the winners, with Lung going four innings for the win, followed up by Taylor and Logan Shupert, with the trio allowing just three West Union hits. Dragons’ southpaw Ian Abbott took the loss, allowing six runs (three earned) in 1 1/3 innings of work.
the third conference game in four days for the Devils came with a 10 a.m. first pitch on Saturday morning as they played host to the Fayetteville Rockets in a contest that was considered a home game for the Rockets. Perhaps the home team had run out of a little bit of gas as it was the Rockets who flew high on the day, downing the Devils by a final score of 8-4.
It was a tough outing for North Adams starter Logan Shupert, who gave up five Fayetteville runs in just two innings of work as the Rockets raced to a 5-0 lead after three innings. The Devils rallied with three runs in the top of the fourth, two of those coming on a two-out bases loaded single by Easton Daulton. The North Adams prosperity didn’t last as the Rockets answered with three runs off of Devils’ reliever Ethan Taylor in the bottom half of the fifth to seal the deal on an eventual four-run victory.
The North Adams offense was held to just five hits by the Fayetteville pitching duo of Austin Snider and Jonas Jakeway, while the Rocket offense produced 10 hits on the day.
The two wins in three tries left the Devils with an overall mark of 4-4-7, 3-5 in SHAC action. Coach Meade’s squad was slated to be on the road at Lynchburg on Tuesday, April 26 in conference action, then back home on Thursday to host East Clinton in non-conference play.
