East Knox baseball’s pitching staff was on fire last week, with the Bulldogs allowing a total of one earned while striking out 23 batters in wins against Fredericktown and Northridge.
After a tough start losing the first two games, the Bulldogs are now 4-2 on the young season, and 1-0 against KMAC teams.
East Knox 7, Fredericktown 2
Derrick Field put on a show for East Knox, striking out 12 en route to a 7-2 win over Fredericktown on April 3 for a win in their first conference matchup of the year.
Fredericktown got on the board in the first inning on a Kaine Sheriff RBI single to go up 1-0. Then in the bottom of the second inning, Caden Ridenour scored on a passed ball and Jaxon Lester hit a two run single in the same at bat. Josh Keith then scored on a passed ball, and suddenly it was 4-1 East Knox. Later in the inning, Shane Gardner hit into a fielder’s choice but Ashton Tarrh came around to score. Caden Wengerd then scored on an error to make it a 6-1 game.
In the top of the fifth, Jon Warner walked with the bases load to give Fredericktown a run and cut the lead to four. In the bottom half of the inning, Tarrh hit a sacrifice fly that scored Ridenour to go up 7-2, sealing the win.
Field went five and two-thirds innings allowing only two runs with one earned, four hits and four walks, while striking out 12 batters in what was a dominant performance on the hill.
East Knox had six hits in the game, led by Ridenour’s 2-for-3 showing. He scored two runs in the game. Lester went 2-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and a run. Wengerd and Tarrh had the other two hits.
Fredericktown had hits from Sheriff, C.J. Fisher, Gavin Buzzard and Brode Davis.
Sheriff took the loss, going five innings allowing seven runs with five earned. He allowed six hits, two walks and struck out a pair of batters.
East Knox 11, Northridge 1
The Bulldogs capitalized off a six run fifth inning and crushed Northridge 11-1 on April 6, as it was a tale of two pitching staffs with the Bulldogs dominating and Northridge struggling with control.
It was scoreless the first two innings, but East Knox put a pair of runs on the board in the second inning. Northridge tacked on a run to make it a one run game, but the Bulldogs went off for two runs in the fourth, six runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth.
Ridenour got the win on the mound, allowing the only Northridge hit, one unearned run, one walk and three strikeouts over three innings. Bryar Householder pitched three innings innings of perfect ball, retiring eight of the nine hitters he faced by strikeout.
East Knox hitters showed plenty of patience in the game, as they walked 10 times while smashing five hits and five RBIs as a team. Caleb Armstrong, Field, Keith and Wengerd each walked twice in the game, while Bracen Davis and Gardner walked once. Ridenour and Gardner each had doubles in the win.
