OSSIAN — Class 4A No. 3-ranked Huntington North scored four two-out runs Thursday, May 10 as the visiting Vikings bested 3A’s Norwell 5-1 in Northeast Eight Conference high school baseball.

“We didn’t hit very well tonight,” said Huntington North coach Jarrod Hammel. “It’s less about two outs than what happened prior to two outs.”

Hammel’s Vikings pride themselves on putting pressure on opposing defenses. They did enough of that to best the Knights and moved to

20-1 overall and 6-0 in the NE8.

“I liked our aggressiveness on the bases,” said Hammel, whose team stole five bases, led by senior Jarret Gray with two. “We did make some positive adjustments at the plate — much later than I’d like to see them.”

Gray went 4-of-4 against Norwell in 2017 so Knights coach Andy McClain had his pitchers intentionally walk the clean-up hitter his first two plate appearances and walked and retired him on a line drive double play — junior shortstop Garrison Brege to senior second baseman Garrett Weybright to double off a runner to end the Huntington North sixth inning.

Norwell (14-6, 4-1) scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first inning.

Senior lead-off man Caleb Kohler singled to left field off junior right-hander Trey Williams (2 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 1 walks, 1

strikeout) — the first of three Vikings pitchers — moved to second base on a sacrifice by Weybright, third base on a fly-out to right by sophomore Beldon Glasgow and scored on a two-out single to left by senior Ian Clark.

The Knights finished the game by leaving nine runners on base (including four at second and two at third).

“We got to a pretty good start,” said McClain. “We didn’t get the two-out hit we needed. That was kind of the difference in the game.

“We left runners on early when we maybe could’ve extended the lead.”

Huntington North tallied four runs in the third inning.

Batting against Knights junior right-hander Caden Mann, senior Ian McCutcheon rapped a one-out single to center and scored on a double to center by senior Elliott Lesperance.

Gray was walked intentionally and, with two outs, junior Levi Bennett walked to load the bases.

Junior Keegan Bartrom was hit by a pitch to force in the go-ahead run.

Williams followed with a ground-rule double to right that plated Gray and Bennett.

The Vikings, which left the bases loaded in the first inning and stranded nine runners for the game (three at second and three at third), got its final run in the fifth.

Bennett drew a lead-off walk, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.

“I like that we played fairly sound defensively,” said Hammel, who saw his team put two Norwell players out on the bases in a scoreless third.

In that frame, Glasgow was cut down at the plate — junior catcher Dane Fife to third baseman McCutcheon to senior right-handed pitcher Gage Sandlin (3 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts) for the first out.

The second out came when Sandlin threw to junior shortstop Zach Daugherty to pick a runner off.

The Knights turned double plays in both the fifth and sixth innings.

In the fifth, it was a strikeout/caught stealing with catcher Clark making the peg to second baseman Weybright who applied the tag.

In the sixth, there was the line drive play involving Gray.

Right-hander Daugherty (2 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1

strikeout) finished on the mound for Huntington North.

“It’s a good experience for us,” said McClain. “We’ll take it and learn from it. Hopefully we’ll use it the rest of the conference of conference play and into the sectional.

“They are a good team. They put a lot of pressure on you on the bases with their leads, stealing bases and the speed. On the flip — which goes hand-in-hand in baseball — they do a good job of holding runners and picks.

“That’s one of the reasons they’ve won 20 ball games and lost one so far.”

Huntington North visits Southwood Friday, May 11. Norwell meets Fort Wayne Bishop Luers in the first round of the Garrett Invitational Saturday, May 12.

SHOWCASES

SHOWCASE	STATE	DATE	LOCATION
Improve My Profile with HS Game Video	IN	06/03	Indiana
2018 Summer Trials	IN	06/05	Grand Park - Westfield, IN
2018 Top Prospect Games	IN	06/12	Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN
Future Prospects Showcase & Educational Camp	IN	06/26	Grand Park - Westfield, IN
Mid-Summer Open, Fort Wayne	IN	07/10	Carroll High School - Fort Wayne, IN
PBR ProCase - Midwest	IN	07/10	Silver Cross Field - Joliet, IL
Mid-Summer Open, Region	IN	07/17	Hobart High School
2018 Underclass Games (Invite Only)	IN	07/24	Indiana University - Bloomington, IN
Prospect Games at Notre Dame	IN	07/24	University of Notre Dame - Notre Dame, IN
2018 PBR Future Games (Indiana Invite Only)	IN	08/01	Grand Park - Westfield, IN
PBR Junior Future Games (Invite Only)	NATIONAL	08/02	Grand Park - Westfield, IN
GPA Games	IN	08/12	Lee Pfund Stadium - Carol Stream, IL