Prater’s 13 Ks, Alderfer’s 3 RBIs help Valley end 9-year drought vs. Zebras

Wilburn hits first career HR for Rochester

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Preston Prater Braxton Alderfer Linden Wilburn

AKRON — The baseball rivalry between Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley is a rivalry again.

Preston Prater struck out 13 batters in a route-going seven-hitter, and Braxton Alderfer had the go-ahead three-run double in the third inning as Valley beat visiting Rochester 4-2 Saturday morning.

Prater baffled the Zebras with a mixture of fastballs and sweeping breaking balls that he routinely placed on the corners of the strike zone. Of his 13 strikeouts, six of them were called strike threes.

Prater also had an RBI single in the fifth off Brady Coleman that stretched the lead to 4-1.

Linden Wilburn’s first career homer was a solo shot to straightaway center in the sixth that cut the lead to 4-2, but Rochester would get no closer.

Camden Zink led off the seventh with a pinch double, but Prater struck out Zakk Parks, got Coleman on a pop to Hunter Paxton at short and struck out Parker Casper to end it.

The win was Valley’s first over Rochester since 2017 when they were Three Rivers Conference rivals. Rochester had won seven straight meetings against the Vikings by a combined score of 60-13.

Valley (2-9) has gone 2-2 since an 0-7 start.

“It’s been awhile since we beat Rochester,” Valley coach Clayton Adamson said. “Last night was tough, but we battled.”

Prater, a sophomore, finished with 117 pitches, just three short of having to be removed from the game per the IHSAA pitch count limit.

“I throw both,” Prater said of his curve ball and slider. “I don’t really work with the change-up very much, but the fastball was working pretty well. I sat slider first pitch a lot, but fastball also helped quite a bit.”

Casper had two hits and an RBI, and Parks also had two hits for Rochester (10-10). Brady Coleman had a single.

Carson Paulik walked twice but left the game early. Coach Cory Good said that Paulik “tweaked” his knee and that his going out of the game was “precautionary.”

Coleman retired Easton Smith on a grounder to third to start the third, but Paxton reached on a two-base throwing error. Hayden Stookey walked, and Parker Adamson reached on an infield single – Paxton ran around a tag attempt from Paulik at third – to load the bases.

Prater then grounded to Paulik at third, who threw home for a forceout.

Alderfer atoned, drilling a double to deep right-center to score Stookey, Adamson and Prater.

“He’s been working on up the middle all season,” coach Adamson said. “He hit one to right-center. It was perfect. He’s a guy that grinds.”

Prater struck out Braylon Smith and Liam Spence before allowing three straight singles to Parks, Coleman and Casper. Casper’s hit to right-center drove in a run, but Prater got Paulik on a pop to second to end the inning.

“He was throwing a decent slider outer half,” Good said. “We just didn’t make the adjustment to the outer half. … We weren’t making that approach change. He started wearing down there a little bit late, but he came out and pitched a tremendous game. Worked quick. We noticed that early. Told those guys to take a second and call time.”

Paxton led off the fifth with a bloop single and moved to second on Stookey’s grounder to second and to third on Adamson’s fly to left. Prater then grounded a single through the hole on the left side to tally Paxton.

“It means a lot,” Prater said. “We’re rivals. Tough loss yesterday (4-3 to Bremen). It was a great game, but we brought that from yesterday the attitude that we wanted to win today, and it showed.”

Rochester was coming off a 7-0 win over Pioneer Friday. This game seemed to highlight their inconsistency.

“Last night, no strikeouts and no errors,” Good remarked. “Today, 13 strikeouts and two errors. Still fighting that same battle we have for 20 games now.”

Tippecanoe Valley 4, Rochester 2

Rochester 000 011 0 – 2 7 2

Valley 003 010 X – 4 6 1

WP – Preston Prater (7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 13 K)

LP – Brady Coleman (5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K)

2B – Camden Zink (RHS), Braxton Alderfer (TV), Grant Paxton (TV)

HR – Linden Wilburn (RHS)