When Veterans and Northside met on the baseball diamond Wednesday – at Veterans, one thing was a given: One would get its first win of the season. The Eagles came in 0-3. The Warhawks were 0-2. Now they are 1-2. They won 10-4.
They struck first, with three of their seven hits coming in the first inning. Those were a single, double and homerun, in that order. Mark Lauritsen, with a walk to Cliffor Pless to start the inning, accounted for the first. Al Lorenzo had the second and Blake Ethridge went yard for the third. He went on to finish the day XXXX wi Their efforts gave the Warhawks a 4-0 lead.
That held until the third when the Eagles cut it in half – an RBI single by Rhett Adams and an RBI double by Gabe Bautista did the damage – but a six-run fourth really put it away. That inning featured two men reaching via a dropped third strike, an error, a walk and finally a triple by Ethridge. That made it 8-2. Jarrett Pierce’s single made it 9-2.
Northside’s final two runs came in the top of the seventh. It managed six hits off three Veterans pitchers. Hunter Johnson led the way with two hits in three at bats. He also scored a run. Adams was 1-3 with a walk and Bautista 1-4.
Ethridge finished 2-4 and also scored twice. Lauritsen was 1-3 with a walk. He scored twice.
Tanner O’Neal, Brent Robinson and Evan Bussell each work at least two innings. O’Neal got the start. He went two and two-thirds, gave up three hits two runs and struck out two. Robinson went two and a third with a hit, no runs and two strikeouts and Bussell threw two. He gave up two hits, two runs and walked two.
Cameron Staten went three and two-thirds for Northside. He gave up three hits, eight runs – four earned – struck out four and walked four. Andrew Heinisch went one and a third and Andrew Rice one. The first gave up four hits and two runs. The second would have had a perfect inning if not for a pair of walks.
