.png)
Stinson, Mollenkopf reach base 4 times each; Yadon also has 2 hits
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WINAMAC — Caston baseball pitcher Talon Zeider found his control, and the rest of the visiting Comets waited out Winamac pitching to earn an 11-5 win on April 28.
Caleb Stinson reached base four times on a single and three walks. He drove in two runs, and he scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on an error.
Gavin Mollenkopf also reached four times on two singles and two walks, and Grant Yadon had two hits, a walk and three runs scored. Zeider also had a hit and an RBI at the plate, and Edison Byrum had a hit and a walk.
Already leading 6-3, Caston tacked on five runs in the seventh to extend the lead.
Zeider allowed three runs on three hits in the first two innings, but from the third through the sixth innings, the only two baserunners he allowed came on errors. Also, he walked four in the first two innings but none after that.
The teams split their two-game series. Winamac had beaten Caston 11-6 the previous day in Fulton.
Caston is now 4-2 in the Hoosier North. Winamac fell to 3-3. North Judson leads the conference at 7-0.
Wyatt Wheeler had two hits and three RBIs for Winamac, but Warrior pitchers walked 11 and hit two batters. Winamac also committed five errors.
“Honestly, from examining things on MaxPreps and just different stuff, we know that their pitchers, they got decent velocity, but they’re a type that are hard to hit because one can be at your head and then one can be down in the zone,” Caston coach Blake Mollenkopf said. “And they throw enough strikes to get people out, but you’ve got to be a little bit alert. And I felt like last night, we were on our heels a little bit too much with that. Made some adjustments this morning and after school, and then we got over here, and I think we were better today with that. And you know, we got some hits, and people relaxed, and things happened too.”
Caston scored two runs in the fifth, all after the first two batters were retired. Stinson walked and advanced to second when Addison Allen hit Preston Holderfield with a pitch. Yadon then reached on an error to score Stinson and move Holderfield to third. That gave Caston a 4-3 lead, and Holderfield later scored on a passed ball.
“That’s what he needs to do,” coach Mollenkopf said of Stinson. “Because he’s got great speed, and when he’s on base, he’s a threat.”
Mollenkopf’s RBI single in the sixth made it 6-3.
In the seventh, Holderfield scored on a balk, Zeider drove in a run on a groundout to third, Byrum scored when Jackson Rentschler reached on an error, Pete DuVall had an RBI walk, and Stinson had an RBI single.
Wheeler’s two-run double in the bottom of the seventh completed the scoring.
But by then, Zeider had made adjustments on the mound.
“At the beginning, I kept my arm high instead of finishing down low,” Zeider said. “And I just kept my whole body low and started pumping the strike zone.”
Zeider said he might vary his motion depending on how the hitter reacts.
“If I feel like the hitter is more of a straightforward hitter, like straight through, I go more up top,” Zeider explained. “So it drops low. But if he’s quick and in, I throw more to the outside to get away from the bat.”
Coach Mollenkopf noted that he had pitched the previous day against Winamac, giving up five earned runs in 1 ⅓ innings and taking the loss.
“They got to him a little bit last night, so I think in his mind, he had to work through some things a little bit mentally and know that he can get outs and put last night away and turn the page to today,” coach Mollenkopf said. “That’s a good credit to him to mature into that and give us a gritty performance and got a win for us that we needed.”
Caston scored in the top of the first on Stinson’s bases-loaded walk. Wheeler’s RBI single in the bottom half tied it. Caston went ahead 2-1 in the second when Yadon scored on a passed ball. Winamac responded again on Max Gearhart’s RBI walk and Allen’s sacrifice fly to take their first lead at 3-2.
Caston tied it in the fourth. Yadon led off with a walk and later came around to score on a wild pitch.
Caston 11, Winamac 5
Caston 110 121 5 – 11 7 2
Winamac 120 000 2 – 5 6 5
WP – Talon Zeider (7 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 K)
LP – Addison Allen (2 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 1 HBP, 3 K)
2B – Wyatt Wheeler (WIN)
Comments