Dill-breaker: Northwestern’s clutch hit in 10th leads to 3rd straight loss for Zebras

Paulik fans 14; Coleman has 4 hits, including HR

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Carson Paulik Brady Coleman

Kade Dill drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the 10th inning, and Ayden Garcia added an RBI on a squeeze bunt as the Northwestern baseball team beat Rochester 4-2 in an extra-inning marathon at Bob Copeland Field Wednesday.

Northwestern won their 10th straight game and improved to 16-3 overall and 6-1 in the Three Rivers Conference.

Rochester dropped their third straight game and is now 10-12, 3-4.

“The message was that gets us ready for postseason baseball,” Rochester coach Cory Good said. “The teams we want to play, the pitchers we want to face. We struggled today. Make some adjustments the next time we see a good pitcher out there.”

The loss spoiled strong games from Rochester’s Carson Paulik on the mound and Brady Coleman at the plate.

Paulik, pitching for the first time since he went nine innings and threw 123 pitches in a win at Wabash May 4, went eight innings and allowed five hits and two runs (one earned) while walking none and striking out 14.

His 120th and final pitch struck out Jaxson Trueblood to end the eighth. By rule, a pitcher may not throw more than 120 pitches in a high school baseball game in Indiana. Paulik retired the final seven batters he faced.

“Just a bulldog for us,” Good said. “He keeps us in every game. We’re a different team with him on the mound. Real proud of the way our pitchers handled themselves. … I feel like that early-season plan of ramping him up late is kind of paying off here a little bit. He looks strong. He looks good. In every single inning, that’s what we want to see from him.

“That’s a great baseball team over there. We’ve got a lot of respect for those coaches and what they’ve been doing. We talked last year when they came into the conference (that) they’re going to be tough.”

Coleman had half of the Zebras’ eight hits, and he poked a solo homer to left field in the fourth off Northwestern starter Landen Begley to give Rochester a 1-0 lead. Coleman also had an RBI double down the left field line in the sixth that tied the game 2-2 and singles in the first and eighth innings. He grounded to second in the 10th off Northwestern’s Brayden Taylor to end his perfect day.

Paulik also had two hits, and Zakk Parks and Callen Ferverda each had a single.

Rochester got the leadoff man on base in the fourth, eighth, ninth and 10th innings but did not score in any of them.

Brant Beck relieved Paulik to start the ninth and got three straight ground ball outs, but he walked Brayden Taylor, Northwestern’s No. 9 batter, to start the 10th.

Begley hit a soft liner at Paulik, now playing second base, for the first out. William Rees’ single moved Taylor to second. Dill, who had been 0 for 4 on the day and had not hit the ball out of the infield, then singled to center to bring home Taylor and give the Tigers the lead.

Rees moved to third on the play. Ayden Garcia then dropped a squeeze bunt, and when the Rochester third baseman fumbled it for an error, everybody was safe, and Rees scored to make it 4-2.

Beck struck out Trueblood and Nate Correll to limit further damage.

“Usually leadoff walks score, and that’s unfortunate,” Good said. “But I really thought that, and I told my coaches as soon as Brant got in that he wanted that, and that’s good to see. There are not a lot of guys who want to go out there in that type of ball game and go and compete like that, and I thought he did a great job. But yeah, leadoff walks score.”

In the bottom of the 10th, Zakk Parks hit a grounder on the right side. He beat it out for an infield hit. The throw from the second baseman was wild, but Rees, a sophomore catcher, backed up the play and threw out Parks trying to advance to second.

Taylor then got Coleman and struck out Casper to end it.

Taylor was a left-hander with a tailing fastball that seemed to move away from right-handed hitters. His stuff and movement gave Rochester a different look from Begley, a hard-throwing righty who pitched the first five innings.

“I think a lot of it is what I love to do,” Good said. “You can put two guys in that are completely different, and it’s tough to make that adjustment in-game. I remember doing that with Brock Beehler, Braxton McGlothin and Trey Stesiak and guys like that. You can mix it up like that, and it’s hard to adjust in-game. I talked to their coaches, and they thought Begley was throwing about 88 (miles per hour), and this is the hardest he’s thrown all year. So again, it’s just one of those things where you go toe to toe with a great team, and let’s build off this thing.”

Northwestern came in averaging 8.3 runs per game and with a team batting average of .345. Paulik came in with an 0.85 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 33 innings.

The battle was on.

Paulik struck out Trueblood with runners on second and third to end the first. He struck out Samuel Jones with a runner on third and one out in the second and then got Taylor on a grounder to short to escape that jam.

Garcia doubled to deep right to start the fourth, and Trueblood’s grounder to Beck at second base moved up the runner and forced Rochester to play their infield in. Paulik got Correll on a grounder to short with Garcia having to hold at third and then whiffed Michael Arrick to end the inning.

Coleman led off the bottom half by sending a fly ball to left. Jones appeared to track it and reached up at the fence. Players and spectators delayed their reaction.

Jones did not have it. It had disappeared over the fence. Rochester led 1-0.

Northwestern responded by getting to Paulik for an unearned run in the fifth. Jones led off with a hit, and Taylor’s sacrifice bunt moved him to second. Begley struck out looking.

A wild pitch moved him to third. Rees then grounded to short, but the throw was wild for an error, scoring Jones. Rees reached second, but Paulik struck out Dill on a back-door curve to retire the side.

Garcia led off the sixth with a single. Trueblood grounded into a forceout, and Correll grounded to second to move Trueblood to second. Arrick then delivered an RBI single that handcuffed Coleman at shortstop and put the Tigers up 2-1.

Parks walked to lead off the sixth, and he stole second. Coleman pulled a game-tying RBI double down the line.

Taylor, who had been playing right field, relieved Begley and then walked Casper, but he got Linden Wilburn to pop up a bunt attempt and Conner Dunfee to foul out to third.

Paulik then grounded a single to right, and Good waved home Coleman. Begley, now playing right field, unleashed a missile home, and Coleman was out by five feet to retire the side.

It remained a pitcher’s duel through the seventh, the eighth and the ninth in the two-hour and 37-minute affair as the chilly mid-May sunlight dwindled.

Northwestern 4, Rochester 2

Northwestern 000 011 000 2 – 4 7 0

Rochester 000 101 000 0 – 2 8 3

WP – Brayden Taylor (5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K)

LP – Brant Beck (2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K)

2B – Ayden Garcia 2 (NW), Brady Coleman (RHS)

HR – Brady Coleman (RHS)