Bull Dogs fall on senior night

The Columbus North baseball team huddled around on one knee while coach Ben McDaniel looked at his seniors and told them ‘Sorry’ after losing 2-0 to Lawrence Central in eight innings Friday on senior night.

Senior Logan Jones pitched his first seven-inning game, giving up only two hits and no runs before Parker Maddox took over in the extra inning.

“It’s rough losing on senior night, especially in a game that was 0-0 going into the eighth inning,” McDaniel said. “I thought Logan Jones did a fantastic job on the mound. We just couldn’t give him any offensive support.”

There was solid pitching from both sides, with only five total hits between the teams through the first seven innings. It wasn’t until the eighth when the Bears (11-15) started to string together a few hits.

Lawrence Central had five hits in a row and scored on an RBI-single from Spencer Youngcourt, followed by another RBI from Nick Conner for the 2-0 lead. The Bears had a opportunity for more runs with only one out with runners on second and third, but a double play by North (11-11) kept the lead from increasing.

“We did some things right and will take a lot of good out of this game,” McDaniel said. “I thought we controlled the running game very well. We had a couple of pickoffs. We threw some guys out. We controlled the basepaths today, which was something that we’ve been working very hard on.”

The Bull Dogs could not get a hit in their first two at bats at the bottom of the eighth. Cooper Trinkle walked, but the Bears came up with a strikeout to end it.

“Pitch selection is the one thing I think we need to improve on,” McDaniel said. “I think we were chasing some stuff we shouldn’t be chasing, and as a result, had some bad (at bats).”

Senior Jeremias Dela Cruz went 2 for 3. Trinkle had the only other hit for North.