Kindig has 2 hits in Argos loss to Lalumiere

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The initials “S.P.” were written in chalk in honor of Sophie Petz behind home plate at the Argos baseball field before Friday’s game with LaVille. Petz, the younger sister of Argos sophomore player Ioan Petz, has been stricken with a brain tumor. (photo provided)

Baseball

LaPorte Lalumiere 9, Argos 4 (Wednesday): Jackson Kindig had two hits and two runs scored for Argos in a road loss to LaPorte Lalumiere Wednesday.

Boyd Paul and Jamin Trump each added a hit. Paul and Dominic Burns each scored a run.

Brady Montgomery had an RBI.

Kindig started on the mound and allowed no earned runs in 3 ⅓ innings. He allowed four hits, a walk and a hit batter while striking out five.

Willie Barenie pitched 2 ⅓ innings and allowed four hits and seven runs (five earned). He walked two, hit two batters and fanned six. Trump pitched one-third of an inning and allowed one hit and one unearned run.

LaPorte Laumiere scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth to break a 4-4 tie. Argos led 3-1 after four innings.

LaPorte Lalumiere 9, Argos 4

Argos 001 201 0 – 4 4 4

LaPorte Lalumiere 001 035 X – 9 9 2

WP – Jaracz (3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K)

LP – Willie Barenie (2 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 6 K)

XBH – (none)

LaVille’s Wolford, Plummer combine on no-hitter in win over Argos

Argos honors Petz family with initials ‘S.P’ behind home plate                                                                                                                                                                 

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

ARGOS — Andrew Wolford, Lucas Plummer and Cameron Brown pitched a combined no-hitter, and Karson Quinn went 4 for 4 with seven RBIs as the LaVille baseball team beat host Argos 16-0 in five innings Friday.

Wolford pitched the first three innings, Plummer pitched the fourth, and Brown struck out all three batters he faced in the fifth. They combined to strike out 13 of the 16 batters they faced.

Zayne Ruby walked in the bottom of the third off Wolford and was Argos’ only baserunner.

Argos sophomore Ioan Petz was not with the team as his younger sister Sophie is suffering from a brain tumor. The letters “S.P.” were drawn in chalk behind home plate, and coach Joe Kindig referred to Sophie as the team’s “honorary captain.”

Kindig and Andy Petz, Ioan and Sophie’s father, are both assistant coaches on Todd VanDerWeele’s boys soccer staff in the fall. Ioan and older brother Ethan Petz both play on the soccer team.

“Sophie is beginning her journey heavenward and will be with the Jesus she loves in God’s time,” Amy Petz, Ioan and Sophie’s mother, said in a social media post Thursday. “We are making sure she is comfortable and Lord willing we will have hospice help us at home while we usher her safe in the arms of Jesus. Our hearts grieve and we covet your prayers for these next days and weeks.”

The team had a fundraiser to help defray costs for the Petz family.

Quinn grounded a two-run single up the middle in the first inning, and he lofted a bases loaded double to deep right in the third inning that drove in three runs and made it 5-0. He also had a pair of RBI doubles in LaVille’s 10-run fourth inning.

Braedyn Foster’s RBI walk made it 8-0, Caleb Howard’s two-run single made it 10-0, and Riley Filley’s RBI single made it 11-0. Plummer crunched a two-run triple to deep right-center, and when the throw to try and get him at third deflected off his helmet and to the side fence, he got up and came in to score to make it 14-0.

Barenie allowed six runs (all earned) in 2 ⅓ innings. He allowed four hits and walked five while striking out two. Jamin Trump allowed eight hits and 10 runs (seven earned) in 1 ⅔ innings. He walked two and fanned none. Brady Montgomery struck out the side in the top of the sixth against a group of Lancer pinch-hitters.

Offensively, Argos struggled to catch up to LaVille’s high-velocity pitchers, according to coach Joe Kindig.

“For our guys, it’s just a matter of getting ready earlier,” Kindig said. “We’ve seen some fast pitching. We saw a good pitcher up at Lalumiere (a 9-4 loss on Wednesday). We were able to make contact off him. It’s just a matter of being ready in at-bats. A couple guys admitted, ‘I wasn’t ready, Coach.’ Well, guess what? You’ve got to be ready.

“We stressed last night in practice and put the machine up probably 80, 85 miles an hour because, let’s face it, LaVille always has two or three guys that just throw really fast. As soon as you see the hand go up, you’ve got to be in position to swing. We just didn’t do it. We just had a good talk with the guys about it, and now it’s up to them.”

Kindig noted two errors that led to three unearned runs, but he also complimented shortstop Boyd Paul and center fielder Jackson Kindig for nice plays in the field and gave the team a ‘B+’ for defense.

He said the team has more pitching depth this year.

“Probably a lot better this year than last year,” coach Kindig said. “We had probably three or four last year. We’ve got five or six that we can consistently throw in practice. With some closer games with each other, it’s probably going to be a little difficult at times because we do have like a doubleheader this day and then Tuesday we’ve got to play, but with six guys to choose from, it’s a lot easier than having three.”

South Bend Career Academy recently announced they will not field a team this year, and Lakeland Christian and Trinity Greenlawn already do not have teams. That means the Hoosier Plains will be a three-team baseball conference this year – Argos, Bethany Christian and Elkhart Christian.

Argos will move to the Hoosier North next year. That will be a nine-team baseball conference that traditionally plays a double round-robin schedule.

So Argos will likely go from four conference games this year to 16 conference games next year.

“We’re not even thinking about it,” Kindig said when asked about preparing a team that has only two seniors for a new conference next year. “Our goal right now is just to be competitive in the Hoosier Plains, give Bethany and Elkhart Christian a run. … It’s going to be between us three. The big thing we asked the boys tonight is how bad do you want it. And we’ll see.”

LaVille 16, Argos 0 (5 innings)

LaVille 204 (10)0 – 16 12 0

Argos 000 00 – 0 0 2

WP – Andrew Wolford (3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K)

LP – Willie Barenie (2 ⅓ IP< 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 2 K)

2B – Karson Quinn 3 (LV), Schwitz (LV), Wolford (LV)

3B – Lucas Plummer (LV)