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MISHAWAKA — Colton Rerick lost his no-hitter to start the seventh inning, then moments later was sure he’d lost his shutout and the lead.
The Penn senior lefty did not lose those latter two things, however, instead fanning the final batter looking for his 10th strikeout to cap off a two-hitter as the 4A No. 1-ranked Kingsmen nipped Elkhart 1-0 in a rapid high school baseball game Tuesday night at Greg Dikos Field.
With one out and runners on first and third for the Lions in the seventh — thanks to a laser lead-off single to center by Max Shreiner ending the no-no and a single to right by Greg Guest that sent Shreiner to third — Adrian Pettis dribbled a soft, twisting grounder that Penn first baseman Williams Barnes gloved and tossed to his pitcher covering for the second out.
Rerick assumed at that point his shutout was history.
“When I got the ball, then looked behind me, I was like, ‘What the heck?’” Rerick said of Shreiner still being parked on third. “I was shocked. He easily could’ve scored in my opinion, but I’m happy how it worked out.”
The ball Pettis put in play appeared of the tweener variety as far as who was going to field it.
“It’s one of those deals, and we had talked about it, where if the pitcher comes off the mound and fields that cleanly, (Shreiner) is out at the plate,” Elkhart coach Scott Rost said. “It did look initially off the bat to both of us that it was going right back to the pitcher, so I don’t have any second doubts on that play at all.”
Rerick (6-0) then struck out Brady Kelly on three pitches to complete the win in a spiffy contest that lasted just 1 hour, 11 minutes.
Penn bounced back from its first defeat all year, 9-5 at 3A top-ranked Andrean (17-1) on Saturday, to improve to 16-1 overall, 9-0 in the Northern Indiana Conference.
“We made some very uncharacteristic mistakes that got us in trouble and we paid for it,” Kingsmen coach Greg Dikos said of the loss to the 59ers in which his club committed five errors and gave up seven unearned runs, “so it was nice to see us come out and play a pretty clean game.”
Penn scored the lone run in the fourth when Brayden Plummer drove a one-out triple to the left-field wall and scored on a groundout by next hitter Mason Braun.
That proved enough to send Lion senior lefty Brodey Weaver to a tough-luck loss.
Weaver (0-2) faced the minimum nine hitters through the first three innings, hitting one batter, but getting a double-play from his defense. He allowed four hits in his six innings overall, including doubles by Plummer and Bennett Hartford, while striking out none, but also walking none.
“He sometimes struggles with control, but tonight he was pinpoint, locating where he wanted to,” Rost said of Weaver. “His last outing, he got lit up pretty good by St. Joe, but he’s been good for two years, and we felt like he could give us a chance tonight if he threw strikes and we played good defense, and I thought our defense was outstanding.”
So was the Kingsmen’s, particularly that by left fielder Kyle Kaczmarski. The Penn senior chased down deep, difficult back-to-back fly balls off the bats of Cooper Schoetzow and AJ Scott in the third inning and a liner by Quinn Rost in the fourth.
“That’s deceiving,” Dikos said of Elkhart (10-5, 6-3) finishing with two hits, both singles. “They put the bat on the screws at least four times I can think of, but Kaczmarski made a couple really nice plays. Scott’s got a good team over there, and they made it tough.”
Rerick was tough, too. The Valparaiso commit shook off dropped third strikes allowing runners to reach during each of the first two innings, and he walked just one all evening.
“It was mostly curveball, fastball today,” Rerick said. “I think the last two innings I threw 80% curveballs, then fastball if I needed it.”
The Kingsman ace said he “tried not to think about it, but of course” he was aware that he carried a no-hitter into the seventh.
“Elkhart teed off on him a couple times, but I thought he was still outstanding,” Dikos said of his pitcher. “His curve was very effective. He threw a lot of pitches (91), but he was able to settle down and finish. That’s been Colt all year.”
The same two teams were slated to be right back at it Wednesday with the Lions hosting and Penn looking to at least maintain its one-game lead over South Bend St. Joseph in the NIC title race.
------------
PENN 1, ELKHART 0
Elkhart;000;000;0;—;0;2;0
Penn;000;100;x;—;1;4;0
Brodey Weaver (L, 0-2); Colton Rerick (W, 6-0; 10 strikeouts).
Penn: Hits — Brayden Plummer 2. 3B — Plummer. 2B — Plummer, Bennett Hartford.
Records: Penn 16-1 (9-0 NIC), Elkhart 10-5 (6-3).
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The Penn senior lefty did not lose those latter two things, however, instead fanning the final batter looking for his 10th strikeout to cap off a two-hitter as the 4A No. 1-ranked Kingsmen nipped Elkhart 1-0 in a rapid high school baseball game Tuesday night at Greg Dikos Field.
With one out and runners on first and third for the Lions in the seventh — thanks to a laser lead-off single to center by Max Shreiner ending the no-no and a single to right by Greg Guest that sent Shreiner to third — Adrian Pettis dribbled a soft, twisting grounder that Penn first baseman Williams Barnes gloved and tossed to his pitcher covering for the second out.
Rerick assumed at that point his shutout was history.
“When I got the ball, then looked behind me, I was like, ‘What the heck?’” Rerick said of Shreiner still being parked on third. “I was shocked. He easily could’ve scored in my opinion, but I’m happy how it worked out.”
The ball Pettis put in play appeared of the tweener variety as far as who was going to field it.
“It’s one of those deals, and we had talked about it, where if the pitcher comes off the mound and fields that cleanly, (Shreiner) is out at the plate,” Elkhart coach Scott Rost said. “It did look initially off the bat to both of us that it was going right back to the pitcher, so I don’t have any second doubts on that play at all.”
Rerick (6-0) then struck out Brady Kelly on three pitches to complete the win in a spiffy contest that lasted just 1 hour, 11 minutes.
Penn bounced back from its first defeat all year, 9-5 at 3A top-ranked Andrean (17-1) on Saturday, to improve to 16-1 overall, 9-0 in the Northern Indiana Conference.
“We made some very uncharacteristic mistakes that got us in trouble and we paid for it,” Kingsmen coach Greg Dikos said of the loss to the 59ers in which his club committed five errors and gave up seven unearned runs, “so it was nice to see us come out and play a pretty clean game.”
Penn scored the lone run in the fourth when Brayden Plummer drove a one-out triple to the left-field wall and scored on a groundout by next hitter Mason Braun.
That proved enough to send Lion senior lefty Brodey Weaver to a tough-luck loss.
Weaver (0-2) faced the minimum nine hitters through the first three innings, hitting one batter, but getting a double-play from his defense. He allowed four hits in his six innings overall, including doubles by Plummer and Bennett Hartford, while striking out none, but also walking none.
“He sometimes struggles with control, but tonight he was pinpoint, locating where he wanted to,” Rost said of Weaver. “His last outing, he got lit up pretty good by St. Joe, but he’s been good for two years, and we felt like he could give us a chance tonight if he threw strikes and we played good defense, and I thought our defense was outstanding.”
So was the Kingsmen’s, particularly that by left fielder Kyle Kaczmarski. The Penn senior chased down deep, difficult back-to-back fly balls off the bats of Cooper Schoetzow and AJ Scott in the third inning and a liner by Quinn Rost in the fourth.
“That’s deceiving,” Dikos said of Elkhart (10-5, 6-3) finishing with two hits, both singles. “They put the bat on the screws at least four times I can think of, but Kaczmarski made a couple really nice plays. Scott’s got a good team over there, and they made it tough.”
Rerick was tough, too. The Valparaiso commit shook off dropped third strikes allowing runners to reach during each of the first two innings, and he walked just one all evening.
“It was mostly curveball, fastball today,” Rerick said. “I think the last two innings I threw 80% curveballs, then fastball if I needed it.”
The Kingsman ace said he “tried not to think about it, but of course” he was aware that he carried a no-hitter into the seventh.
“Elkhart teed off on him a couple times, but I thought he was still outstanding,” Dikos said of his pitcher. “His curve was very effective. He threw a lot of pitches (91), but he was able to settle down and finish. That’s been Colt all year.”
The same two teams were slated to be right back at it Wednesday with the Lions hosting and Penn looking to at least maintain its one-game lead over South Bend St. Joseph in the NIC title race.
------------
PENN 1, ELKHART 0
Elkhart;000;000;0;—;0;2;0
Penn;000;100;x;—;1;4;0
Brodey Weaver (L, 0-2); Colton Rerick (W, 6-0; 10 strikeouts).
Penn: Hits — Brayden Plummer 2. 3B — Plummer. 2B — Plummer, Bennett Hartford.
Records: Penn 16-1 (9-0 NIC), Elkhart 10-5 (6-3).
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