The South Oldham Dragons (8-9) dominated the North Oldham Mustangs (5-12) in six innings with a 12-0 run-rule win in a game that was played on Monday, April 15 and Wednesday, April 17 due to a weather delay.
“We came out the next day and practiced and talked about what we’re going to do and came back out the next day,” South head coach Troy Blakely said. “We have a plan, and we worked our plan pretty well throughout that game. We were able to come out on top of that first one.”
North Oldham head coach Zach Ivester felt like the delay in the game hurt his team because of the amount of pitchers he had to use on Wednesday night. Game two was played after the conclusion of game one.
“If it never lightnings, who knows, maybe that game turns out differently,” Ivester said. “We had a little rally going. I think the bigger thing for me was to come out here in the continuation of that game and really not be able to get much going. We really struggled to find our footing. Then to be able to turn the page and 15 minutes later be able to play another game and play it well and compete hard, I was really proud of that.”
Dragon senior Davis Gunn threw 4.1 innings on Monday, allowing no runs on two hits and throwing two strikeouts before the game was postponed until Wednesday. Freshman Hayden Barnett tossed 1.2 innings when the game started back up. He threw two strikeouts and allowed no runs.
Senior Wyatt Colvin started the game for the Mustangs, tossing five innings and throwing five strikeouts on Monday. Junior Elliott Roberts came in to start the game back up on Wednesday, and junior Aaryn Waloch finished the game, throwing two strikeouts in one inning of work.
South Oldham sophomore Luke Belardo went 2-for-4 at the plate, batting in one run. Senior Kian Vorster and junior Caleb Jones went 1-for-4 with two RBIs each.
Both teams opened the game scoreless in the first inning. Vorster led off the game with a single for the Dragons in the top of the first inning. Colvin forced a ground out and threw a strikeout for the first two outs of the game. Senior Aaron Frantz singled, but Mustang junior Carson White caught Vorster in a pickle between third and home and threw him out for the third out.
In the bottom of the first, Gunn produced a three up, three down inning to end the first. The South Oldham bats got going in the top of the second inning. Jones led off with a single followed by a single by junior Ethan Arnold. Jones scored on an error after a single by Belardo on a throw to first base.
Arnold scored on a ground out by junior Davis Larsen, and sophomore Boone Dillon gave the Dragons a 3-0 lead on a sacrifice fly. Gunn threw another three up, three down inning to end the second.
Both pitchers dominated the next inning and half. Colvin and Gunn tossed a three up, three down third inning. In the top of the fourth inning, Colvin produced his second consecutive three up, three down inning while Gunn continued his perfect game before the game was delayed due to thunder in the area.
The game resumed 30 minutes later with both Gunn and Colvin going back in the game. Gunn ended the fourth inning with two ground outs to start the game back up.
The Dragons quickly loaded the bases with two hit by pitches and a walk with one out. Gunn hit a deep ball to center field that was dropped, allowing a run to score on an error. Another error by North in the infield scored another run for the South, giving it a 5-0 lead at the end of the top of the fifth inning.
“There was a lot to be desired with how we played,” Ivester said. “The long and the short of it is we just didn’t play clean enough defensively in those early innings against a kid like Gunn to really give ourselves much of a chance to stay in it.”
In the bottom of the fifth, North freshman Gabe Kuerzi broke up Gunn’s perfect game with a one-out double. Junior Quinn Steed singled to put runners on the corners. However, lightning struck, and the game was postponed two days. Barnett came into pitch when the game started back up on Wednesday and stranded both runners to end the fifth inning.
“Davis threw really, really well,” Blakely said. “I believe he had a perfect game going into the [fifth] inning, and we kind of got to the point where we started to rush a little bit. We floated a couple pitches up there, and they dropped a couple of hits in and got that first and third. Then of course, we got it shut down.”
The Dragon bats caught fire in the top of the sixth. A walk and singles by Larsen and Dillon loaded the bases before three consecutive walks put across three more runs. Jones hit two runs in on a single. Belardo knocked in two more runs with a single, giving them a chance at a run-rule win.
Barnett ended the game in the bottom of the sixth with a three up, three down inning. South Oldham takes game one with a 12-0 win.