Final 2022 Mount Vernon Babe Ruth League registration Saturday
The final opportunity to register for 2022 Babe Ruth League baseball is Saturday, March 5, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Babe Ruth field announcer’s booth at Memorial Park on Mount Vernon Avenue. The Mount Vernon Babe Ruth Association, doing business as Knox Babe Ruth League of Knox County, has scheduled in-person registration for 13- to 16-year olds.
New player tryouts will take place Saturday, Mar. 26 from 9 a.m. to noon.
Stingy pitching leads Cougars to sweep and split doubleheaders
Last weekend in Florida was a solid one for Mount Vernon Nazarene’s baseball team and a stingy one for Cougars pitchers, allowing three runs in four games, as they split with University of Michigan-Dearborn on Friday and swept Cornerstone in a pair of shutouts on Sunday.
The Cougars lost Friday’s opener 2-0 on a wild pitch and a passed ball in the first, which accounted for all of the runs. Noah Gleason pitched 5 innings, struck out six, gave up five hits and allowed the two unearned runs in the first. In game two, MVNU won 7-1 on freshman pitcher Jarin Bertke’s complete game one-hitter. The Cougars came to life at the plate in the second game as they scored seven runs on nine hits. Jake Glover continued to hit the ball well, as the senior went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Pearl was 1-for-4 in game two with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
On Sunday, Cougar pitching was dominant and did not allow a run, sweeping Cornerstone 3-0 and 7-0. In game one, Cameron Miller put MVNU on the board in the bottom of the second with an RBI single to center field that scored Devin Pearl. Clay Cottle picked up an RBI in the inning that pushed across Hunter Billman to make the score 2-0. The story of the game was sophomore pitcher Josh Pettit. The righty was locked in and in control from start to finish, pitching a complete game shutout. In his seven innings of work, Pettit struck out 16 batters. Pettit allowed just three hits total in the win.
The second game of the doubleheader saw a little more offense from the Cougars. Casey Kalman singled down the left-field line in the top of the first, scoring Toby Walker. Pearl unleashed a homer to left field for MVNU’s fourth run of the ballgame in the fifth. Logan Fox was strong on the bump for the Cougars as he finished the game with just four hits allowed and three strikeouts in six innings of work. Cruz McFadden closed out the game in the seventh inning, striking out all three batters that he faced.
