After dropping its season opener in extra innings, the last thing the Columbus North baseball team wanted to do was fall to 0-2 with a loss to Franklin in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Casper Clark made sure it didn’t happen.
The sophomore righthander threw a two-hitter with eight strikeouts and went 2 for 3 at the plate to help the Bull Dogs salvage a split with a 9-1 win in Game 2.
“Winning that second one was a big deal,” Clark said. “We can’t lose two games in a row, so it was a good comeback to have a resounding win there.”
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Clark gave up a single to the second batter of the game, Jonah Rockey. Clark then retired 17 in a row before Rockey doubled with one out in the seventh.
The Grizzly Cubs ruined the shutout when Rockey stole third and scored on a groundout.
“I thought Casper was lights out,” North coach Ben McDaniel said. “He did well for us last year, and we expect big things from him this year. I don’t know that any team we play is going to be that much better than we are on the mound. We just have to play defense behind them.”
The Bull Dogs scored three runs each in the second, fourth and sixth innings. Tyler Finke had an RBI-double, and Grant Trinkle followed with an RBI-triple in the fourth. Clark and Kyler McIntosh had RBI-singles in the sixth.
Clark went 2 for 3, and Finke went 2 for 4 to lead North’s 10-hit attack. McIntosh, one of four Bull Dog freshmen to start the second game, had two RBIs.
“I was proud of how we came out and played defensively as a team to have my back,” Clark said. “That always helps me pitch better knowing that my defense has my back. Then, for the offense to put up nine runs in (six) innings, that’s the most you could ask for as a pitcher and more.”
In the first game, North took a 1-0 lead in the first when Finke led off with a walk, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Austin Bode. But Franklin reached Bull Dog starter Parker Maddox for a run in the third and three in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead.
Clark’s two-run double in the sixth brought North within 4-3. In the seventh, Finke drew a one-out walk, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Bode to send the game to extra innings.
The Grizzly Cubs plated an unearned run off Jake Petrusky in the eighth and retired the Bull Dogs in the bottom of the inning to pull out a 5-4 win.
Maddox went 2 for 3, and Adam Chapman went 2 for 4 in the second game. Bode and Clark each had two RBIs.
“Ultimately, we would have liked to have had both games,” McDaniel said. “But we’re young, and the fact that these guys competed for the entire game in Game 1, and then to turn around and come back out and take a commanding lead in Game 2 and continue to keep the pedal down and add to the lead shows me a lot of heart for a young team.”
