Class 4A No. 1 Columbus North didn’t look its sharpest Tuesday night against Southport, but the Bull Dogs did enough to come away with a 10-3 Conference Indiana victory and remain undefeated for the season.
“A little disappointed in our approach tonight. We were losing a little focus to be honest and were a little too loose,” North coach Ben McDaniel said. “We like loose, we like to play loose, we like to practice loose, but there is a fine line between loose and lazy, and we were probably on the other side of that line tonight in our pregame approach, and that carried over in the start of the game.”
The Cardinals went ahead 1-0 in the first inning with a double from Landon Godsey, who later scored on a fielder’s choice.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Bull Dogs (16-0-1, 3-0) went ahead with Blake Stevens reaching base on an error. Kyler McIntosh then blasted a triple into the gap in center field and later scored on a passed ball for a 2-1 lead.
North extended its lead in the second when Hayden McDaniel led off the with a single and advanced to third on a couple of passed balls. Will Baker was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and third. Zach Wager hit an RBI-single, and Austin Bode hit an RBI-groundout to extend the lead to 4-1 after two innings.
The Bull Dogs added another run in the third. Southport added runs in the fourth and fifth to cut the deficit to 5-3, but North added three runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 8-3. North plated two more runs in the sixth to close out the game.
“I had a good talk with the guys. We’ll get dialed in (today). We’ve got a day off. We haven’t had many days off in a while,” McDaniel said. “It’s our 17th game … We need some more practice time, and that comes back up for us in a couple weeks. I’m looking forward to that.”
McIntosh went 2 for 3 with a triple and an RBI, Harmon was 1 for 2 with a triple and an RBI, Blake Huffman went 1 for 3 with two RBIs, Zach Wager was 1 for 3 with an RBI and Austin Bode went 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI.
Luke Harmon, who pitched the first five innings, earned the win on the mound.
