WNC Baseball: Peters, Fox lift Wildcats to doubleheader split
Submitted by editor on Fri, 03/13/2015 - 8:26pm
There's no secret why DJ Peters is climbing in the Wildcat batting order. Peters, who was hitting seventh in the lineup earlier in the season, has risen to fifth this week.
After a 3-for-3 performance, including a solo home run, in a 7-1 victory of the opening game of a doubleheader against Colorado Northwestern on Friday in Carson City, who knows where the 6-foot-6 right-handed hitter will wind up. Peters knocked in two runs, stole two bases and scored twice to back the four-hit pitching of Ty Fox.
"He's a great talent, very passionate and high energy level," Whittemore said. "He works hard all week and put that together with a good hitting coach like 'Demo' (Aaron Demosthenes) and you are going to get good results."
Peters said falling in the batting order served to motivate him to produce better results.
"I've always known that I'm good hitter, but I wasn't really showing it," Peters said. "I feel like I've been doing that."
Colorado Northwestern scored five runs in the eighth inning to win the second game, 6-1, dropping WNC's Scenic West Athletic Conference-leading record to 8-3.
The only run against Fox (2-1) in six innings was unearned. He struck out three and walked three.
"He settled in," Whittemore said. "He has a good three-pitch mix, he's a good competitor and he's used to winning."
Peters also closed out the win, overcoming two walks to toss a scoreless seventh inning. Kody Reynolds supplied two hits and a RBI for the Wildcats, who totaled 11 hits.
WNC wasted no time launching its offensive attack as the first five batters hit safely in the first inning. Following base hits by Bradley Lewis and Jake Bennett, Reynolds lined a single to left field, scoring Lewis. After failing to put down a bunt, Tim Lichty cracked a run-scoring double to left field. Peters and Corey Pool added a RBI single and sacrifice fly, respectively, to complete the Wildcats' four-run first inning.
The Wildcats brought out the hook for Spartans starter Anthony Antos when the first three hitters reached base in the third inning. For the second time in three innings, the Wildcats capitalized when a hitter was unable to lay down a bunt. This time it was Brandon Lapointe who used his final strike to lace a two-run double to center field as WNC increased its lead to 6-0.
"Brandon has been grinding all year with not a lot to show for it, so to see him finally get one to hit the turf (in the outfield), that was awesome because yesterday he blasted a ball to left-center and they ran it down," Whittemore said.
Fox (2-1) struggled after retiring the first two hitters he faced. The Spartans proceeded to load the bases before Fox struck out Larenz Stansfield to end the threat.
"The full-count strikeout with the bases loaded really set the stage for that (big inning) because the game is different if they get the lead," Whittemore said. "Ty executed the pitch, and as far as I'm concerned that was the difference in the game right there."
Fox breezed through the second, third and fourth innings allowing just two base runners.
Fox lost his shutout in the fourth inning when the Spartans scored an unearned run. Colorado Northwestern tried a double steal with two outs, allowing Tanner Nieslanik to cross the plate while Matt Mannens got hung up between first and second bases for the third out.
"I felt comfortable the whole way," Fox said. "I was spotting my fastball. I wasn't on point with my curve and change-up like I usually am."
Colorado Northwestern took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of game two. Bryce Lich doubled into the right-field corner and scored on Daniel Naus' base hit to center.
WNC tallied the tying run in the bottom of the inning. Lichty walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on Peters' fourth hit of the day and crossed the plate on Pool's second sacrifice fly of the afternoon.
Karnos gave up a bloop double to Nieslanik with one out in the sixth, but the sophomore right-hander struck out Naus and retired Walker Rochlin on a groundout to keep the score knotted at 1.
The Wildcats were 90 feet away from a sweep in the seventh. WNC loaded the bases with one out but couldn't score the game-winner. Base hits by Peters and Pool and an intentional walk to Blake Morin filled the bases. Reliever Gehrig Parks fell behind 3-0 in the count to David Modler before Modler hit into an inning-ending double play.
The momentum shift carried over to the Colorado Northwestern eighth. Luke Maher walked with one out and Lich delivered a single to left, setting up Nieslanik for a tiebreaking RBI double to right. Consecutive suicide squeeze bunts by Naus and Rochlin netted the Spartans two more runs for a 4-1 lead. A run-scoring single by pinch-hitter Ben Martinez and a RBI triple by Riley Akers completed the scoring.
Karnos (2-2), who entered the eighth with a five-hitter, gave up eight his and five earned runs. He finished with five strikeouts and three walks.
Peters collected two of the Wildcats' five hits, and Bennett extended his streak of reaching base to 27 games.
The two teams will wrap up their four-game series at noon Saturday at John L. Harvey Field on the WNC campus in Carson City. Go here to listen to live play-by-play coverage by Charles Whisnand.
