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Northview falls short to Linton in Exit 23 Classic
Baseball can be an odd game, and Northview found that out Monday night at home against Linton in what was dubbed as the ‘Exit 23 Classic.’
The Knights, on multiple occasions, found the barrel of the bat but had little to show for it while the Miners, who had the same type of luck on some of their hard-hit balls, found holes on several flares and bloopers throughout the night.
Getting runners on base with the dinks and dunks was one thing. However, what ultimately decided the outcome of the game was what Linton did when those runners were put into scoring position.
The Miners took advantage of their opportunities by cashing them in time after time – four of their five runs coming with two outs – which led to a 5-4 win over Northview.
“Every once in a while, you wonder what you did to the Baseball Gods to have that stuff happen. But to be fair, [Linton] played a really good game,” said Northview head coach Craig Trout. “They did what they had to beat us. They out-hit us and they made the plays in the field to out-field us.”
“If you’re going to win in late-May and middle-to-late June, you have to come through in times like this. You can’t just rely on everything going your way. Our guys, they just really grinded this one out today against a darn good team that is very capable of winning their sectional,” said Linton head coach Jacob Harden. “Tonight, it seemed like we were the ones that caught the breaks. That’s baseball.”
Northview had its fair share of chances to put runs on the scoreboard in bunches as well, Trout stated afterwards. Unfortunately, the hosts left six runners on second or third, squandering their chances to tie or take the lead at various points in the game.
“I don’t think it was because of a lack of chances. It was more so a lack of capitalization,” said Trout. “With it being this early in the season, you have to learn how to deal with that, but at the same time, when you’re in those situations, you have to take advantage, and we just didn’t. That’s a testament to them.”
Harden credited Northview’s struggles at the plate to the pitching performance of Casen Goodman, a right-handed sophomore who had not appeared on the mound yet this spring but took advantage of his opportunity on Monday.
Goodman held Northview’s No. 1-8 hitters hitless (0-for-15) through his five innings of work with freshman third baseman/left fielder/catcher Isaac Rissler, who was slotted into the No. 9 spot in the lineup, being the lone batter to reach base via a hit during Goodman’s outing – Rissler went 2-for-2 with a double and a single.
“I strive to be the best leader I possibly can, and I think a part of good leadership is vulnerability and admitting when maybe you haven’t done something the way you should. I haven’t given this kid the opportunity this year, and I should’ve. He bailed me out tonight because there were times that, looking back, I should’ve given him an opportunity already and I haven’t. So, after we lost a tough game to Bloomfield this past weekend, I talked to him and said, ‘Dude, I’m sorry. That’s my fault, but you’re pitching Monday.’ And by God did it pay dividends tonight,” said Harden of Goodman.
Northview put a pair of runners on base to open the fifth inning – Jackson Pierce walked and Rissler singled to left – against Goodman, which forced Harden to get some activity going in his bullpen. Goodman finished the inning by retiring Northview’s top three hitters in order. And in doing so, the sophomore bought himself the chance to pitch into the sixth inning.
Northview, again, opened the next frame by putting runners aboard. Back-to-back walks to Javier Higham and Brayden Kreiger and a hard-hit ground ball off the bat of pinch hitter Jackson Kirby, which went down as an error in the book but could have easily been scored a hit, loaded the bases with no outs.
Harden made the decision that at 95 pitches and danger looming on the basepaths, it was time to bring in a fresh arm for the game’s biggest situation.
Linton called upon junior right-hander Blaike Husband. Husband was greeted by a first-pitch-swinging Jackson Farris, who drove a two-run double into deep center field, cutting the deficit to one and put the tying and go-ahead runs at second and third with three outs left to make that happen.
“Jackson and Jackson came through for us there,” said Trout of Jackson Kirby and Jackson Farris doing their part to score Northview’s two runs in the sixth.
Except it never did.
Husband recorded back-to-back strikeouts before intentionally walking Caden Schrader to re-load the bases. He then successfully fielded a hard grounder back to him off the bat of Cam Green to keep Linton’s lead intact.
“Going into the bottom of the sixth, we knew where we were in their lineup. I was thinking, ‘Hey, I know his pitch count is getting up there, but let’s see if we can get through the bottom part [of Northview’s order] and then we’ll bring Blaike in.’ But then they got the bases loaded and we had to go to him then,” explained Harden of his pitching plans in the sixth. “As an offense, to get two runs with the bases loaded, that’s pretty good. But in that scenario, them only getting two runs was good for us.”
Northview had one more chance in the bottom of the seventh inning with the middle of its order due up, but Husband got them to go down in order, bringing an end to the game.
Monday night’s game was much more than a typical midweek battle against a non-conference opponent, though. It was the first time Harden, a former Northview standout and assistant coach, was back on the field where so many of his baseball dreams became reality in a regular season matchup with the Knights.
Emotional at the start of the game when he met with Trout, who he said he views as his idol and mentor, and the umpires at home plate, and even more so afterwards after finishing off his team’s second win of the season, Harden was grateful for the chance to compete against a dugout full of his friends.
“This was very emotional,” said Harden. “I love this place and I love these people. This is home. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more comfortable than on this field right here, and I was glad to feel comfortable here again tonight because that was a big game. I’m glad the boys felt that way too. They knew what was at stake for me personally, so for them to play their best game of the season, that felt good to me as their coach.”
LINTON (AB-R-H-RBI) – Miller ss 4-0-1-1, Br.Husband c 5-1-1-0, R.Goodman cf-lf 3-1-1-1, Fields 2b 4-0-1-0, Sullivan 3b 2-0-0-0, Boyd 1b 4-1-1-1, C.Goodman p-lf 3-0-1-0, Bl.Husband dh-p 3-0-3-2, Walker rf-cf 3-0-0-0. TOTALS 31-5-9-5.
NORTHVIEW (AB-R-H-RBI) – Schrader ss 2-1-0-0, Green lf-cf 3-0-0-0, Lear 1b 3-0-0-1, Higham 2b 3-2-0-0, Kreiger cf-rf 3-1-0-0, Buell rf-lf 2-0-0-0, Eldridge p 0-0-0-0, Kirby ph 1-0-0-0, Farris dh-p 3-0-1-2, Pierce p-3b 2-0-0-0, Rissler 3b-lf 3-0-2-0. TOTALS 25-4-3-3.
Linton 004 010 0 – 5
Northview 100 102 0 – 4
2B – Husband, C.Goodman, Rissler, Farris. SB – Miller, R.Goodman.
Pitching
Linton IP H R ER BB SO
C.Goodman (W, 1-0) 5 2 4 2 5 4
Bl.Husband (Sv, 1) 2 1 0 0 1 2
Northview IP H R ER BB SO
Pierce (L, 0-1) 4.2 8 5 5 4 6
Eldridge 1.1 0 0 0 1 2
Farris 1 1 0 0 1 2
Next – Northview (3-3) visits Owen Valley Tuesday. Linton (2-3) hosts Clay City Thursday.