By Steve Krah

PBR Indiana Correspondent 

MUNCIE — Holding on with an early lead in Game 1 and coming from behind in Game 2, the South beat the North 5-2 and 5-3 Saturday, July 15 in the 43rd annual Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series. 

In games played on the turf at Ball State University, the South ran its win streak agains the North to five going into a noon wood-bat game on Sunday, July 16. 

Roy Thurman III (Indianapolis North Central) lashed two hits, including an RBI double, in Game 1, and produced a two-run double in Game 2. 

“I was looking for my middle-in fastball and that’s what (the pitchers) gave me,” Thurman said. “I squared it up.” 

Thurman was hit by three pitches on the day. 

“I crowd the plate,” Thurman said.  

Next year Thurman heads to Northern Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa. 

In Game 1, Drey Jameson (Greenfield-Central) picked up the pitching victory while Drew Bradford (Whitko) absorbed the loss.  

In Game 2, Trent Johnson (Crawfordsville) was winning pitcher. Kevin Thompson (Columbus North) earned a save. Mike Madura (Munster) took the loss. 

South 5, North 2 

The South plated one run off right-hander Bradford in the top of the first inning. 

Clay Woeste (Lawrenceburg) led off the game with a triple into the right field corner and scored the game’s first run on a one-single single up the middle by Cooper Trinkle (Columbus North). 

Trinkle stole both second and third base. With two outs, Elijah Dunham (Evansville Reitz) and Thurman were both struck by pitches to load the bases before Bradford coaxed an inning-ending fielder’s choice. 

The South tallied a two-out run off Bradford in the second inning. 

Drew Ashley (Evansville Memorial) reached base on a one-out infield hit, stole second and third and score on a two-out single to left by Daylan Nanny (Plainfield). 

The first two South pitchers — right-handers Jameson and Blake Malatestinic (Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter) — tossed 1-2-3 innings in the first and second frames, respectively. 

The South lead swelled to 4-0 thanks to two more runs off Bradford in the third frame. 

Dunham led off with a single to right and scored on Thurman’s ground-rule double to left-center. 

Thurman moved to third on a groundout by Evan Aders (Jasper) and tallied the fourth run on a one-out single to left by Drew Hensley (Bedford North Lawrence). 

Also during the South third, Hensley was thrown out trying to steal second — catcher to second baseman. 

Malatestinic worked around two hit batsmen in a scoreless North third inning. The Ritter graduate did catch a runner off base and threw to second baseman Trinkle for the out. 

North right-hander Sean Smith (Peru) pitched a scoreless fourth inning, yielding a single and a hit batsman. 

The North got on the scoreboard with two runs off Malatestinic in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

Ryan Missal (Lowell) drew a lead-off walk, moved to second on an infield single by Bryce Masterson (Noblesville) and scored on a single to right by Hunter Ryan (Hebron). 

A two-out single to left by Riley Tirotta (Mishawaka Marian) plated Masterson to cut the lead to 4-2. 

All three outs in the frame were strikeouts, running Malatestinic’s total to five. 

Smith walked two batters, but gave up nothing else in the South fifth. 

South left-hander John Nierman (Brebeuf Jesuit) came on in relief to begin the North fifth. He gave up a single to Ben Nisle (Lake Central) then picked him off for the second out of a scoreless stanza. 

Smith allowed a lead-off single to left by Trey Kelley (Hagerstown), coerced a flyout and foul pop and then Kelley was thrown out at second by North catcher Andrew Lawvere (Eastbrook). 

Nierman worked in and out of a jam in the sixth inning, leaving North runners stranded at first and second base. 

Left-hander Joe Graziano (Lake Central) took the hill for the North and sent the South down in order with two strikeouts in the top of the seventh inning. In a scoreless eighth, he gave up a lead-off single to right by Canton Terry (South Vermillion) then racked up three straight outs. 

Right-hander Drew Ashley took his turn on the mound for the South in the bottom of the seventh and recorded a 1-2-3 frame. Ashley did the same in the eighth. 

Graziano also worked the ninth inning and allowed one run. The first out was a sliding catch in right field by Missal to take a hit away from Dunham. 

Thurman was struck by a pitch for the third time in the game and scored on a single to center by Damon Maynard (Greenwood).  

Ashley closed out the contest, getting a game-ending double play. 

South 5, North 3 

South catcher Maynard threw out a would-be base-stealing courtesy runner Tirotta (spelling Penn’s Metcalf after his single to left) to end the North’s scoreless first inning against right-hander Eston Stull (Pendleton Heights).  

North left-hander Andy Samuelson (LaPorte) fired a 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the first. 

Stull walked two North hitters but left the runners stranded in the second inning. 

North catcher Nolan Metcalf threw out Rhett Wintner (Carmel) trying to steal third base to end a scoreless South second. Wintner drew a one-out walk from Samuelson. Wintner was helped from the field after sustaining a leg injury. 

Left-hander Jake Lewis (Providence) took over pitching duties in the third inning. A double play — shortstop Noah Navarro to second baseman Kelley to first baseman Nanny — ended a North threat with the score still 0-0. 

Samuelson wrapped his mound stint by fanning two leaving robbers at second and third in the South third. 

Runners were left at second and third base in the North fourth. Lewis stopped the rally with strikeout and groundout. He retired side in order with a strikeout in the fifth. 

Right-hander Madura relieved Samuelson to open the South fourth and retired all three batters on fly balls. 

The South broke a scoreless tie with one run against Madura in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

Aders reached base on an infield single and later scored on Rowan’s infield single. 

The North took its first lead of the day — 2-1 — in the top of the sixth. 

South right-hander Johnson assumed the bump in the top of the sixth and was greeted by back-to-back singles to left by Metcalf and Missal. A wild pitch advanced courtesy runner Luke Florek (Western) and Missal to third and second base. 

A wild pitch allowed Florek to tally the tying run. 

Nisle’s two-out single to left drove home Missal with the North’s second run. 

The South scored four runs against Madura in the bottom of the sixth to take a 5-2 lead. 

Hensley smacked a one-out single to right and scored on Nanny’s single to center. 

Tanner Craig (Austin) walked. Thurman cracked a two-run double to left to drive in Craig and Nanny.  

A Maynard double to center knocked in Thurman. 

Johnson put down the North in order in the seventh. 

Left-hander Garrett Schoenle (Fort Wayne Northrop) relieved for the North in the bottom of the seventh and whiffed all three hitters. 

The North scored one run against Johnson in the eighth. Florek reached on an error and scored on a one-out single to center by Masterson. 

A sliding catch in right field by Aders robbed Nisle of a hit and ended the inning. 

Schoenle gave up a single to Craig in the eighth, but the South did not get a runner past first base. 

Left-hander Thompson was called on in the closing role for the South in the ninth. He gave up a two-out single by the middle to Tirotta then got the final out of the contest.