By Nolan Epstein
Thursday turned out to be just about perfect for head coach Shane Pierce’s club as the Strafford Indians (12-5) grabbed its sixth straight conference win while notching a Mid-Lakes title in the process.
To make things a little sweeter, the conference-clinching victory for the Indians came against their arch-rivals, Fair Grove, located ten miles north in the form of a 4-1 triumph.
Leading the way for the Indians was sophomore hurler Tony Caldwell, who mystified Fair Grove (8-10) hitters by recording 13 strikeouts over six innings of two-hit baseball.
“Tony did a great job today,” Pierce said. “He threw some really nice curveballs and changeups. He always competes out there and we were happy. He keeps getting better every time out.”
Caldwell was instrumental in mixing up his pitches throughout the contest – keeping the Eagles guessing. That kind of success allowed the sophomore to keep Fair Grove empty in the hit column until the fourth inning.
“Any time you aren’t sure what pitch he’s going to throw, it makes it tough on hitters,” Pierce said. “It keeps hitters off-balance, and I think he did a good job of that today.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF STRAFFORD VS. FAIR GROVE
As effective as Caldwell was, Fair Grove starter Noah Argenta matched his counterpart for the first four frames, keeping the Indians scoreless and maintaining a stalemate on the scoreboard between the two squads.
However, that all changed in the fifth as Strafford used its small-ball tactics to bring home the game’s first run and ultimately loadimg the bases to set the stage for first baseman Elijah Perkins.
Perkins, who was hitless in his first two at-bats, came through in a loud way, relaxing just enough at the plate to take an Argenta pitch the opposite way into the left-center field gap.
And when the smoke cleared, so did the bases.
“With the bases loaded, I didn’t want to do too much,” Perkins said of his three-run double in the fifth. “I just wanted to go opposite field and that’s what happened.”
Perkins’ double, which extended Strafford’s lead to 4-0 in the blink of an eye, proved to be the difference-maker for the Indians.
Caldwell gave a run back with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but would get four more outs without allowing another run to let sidearmer Austin Tipton close the door.
“It’s always nice pitching with a lead,” Caldwell said. “You can never be too safe. I was just trying to stay ahead in counts and try to minimize damage.”
Although Fair Grove’s Rhett Hill reached base on an error to lead off the bottom of the seventh, Tipton managed to retire the next three batters – securing a perfect 6-0 conference record and a coveted Mid-Lakes crown.
“This is the first time in my four years that we’ve been undefeated, undisputed champions, and that feels great,” said Perkins. “We’ve always been right there in the race for it, but we just hadn’t pulled out a big win here or there. It feels really good to just run the table.”
Strafford travels to play Hollister on Friday, while Fair Grove hosts Clever on Monday.
