Published: May 07, 2008 12:18 am            

BASEBALL: NW pounds Western

NW improves to 5-0 in MIC with victory over Western

Kirk Beachy, Luke Miller, Alex Ridlen and James Reed turned the Mid-Indiana Conference baseball showdown between Northwestern and Class 3A No. 10-ranked Western into a rout.

Combined, the Tigers’ Nos. 1-4 hitters went 12-for-16, scored seven runs and drove in eight runs to lead Northwestern to an 11-1 win in five innings. Reed cracked a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring an early end to the game by the 10-run mercy rule.

“We tried to come out here with the right mindset and tried to mentally treat it like any other game,” Beachy said. “We came out and the top of the order moved the ball really well and just got things going.”

Beachy, Miller, Ridlen and Reed each went 3-for-4 to fuel the Tigers’ 15-hit attack. Miller and Reed had two extra-base hits and three RBI apiece and Beachy scored a game-high three runs. Also for the Tigers, winning pitcher Brad Rist cracked a solo homer and Danny Turner chipped in an RBI single.

Northwestern improved to 12-3 overall and 5-0 in the MIC while Western dropped to 10-4 and 4-1. The Panthers are the two-time defending league champions, but the Tigers are in position to end that streak and take their first league crown since 2001. Northwestern has league games remaining against Taylor and Cass.

“We really want to win the MIC. We obviously haven’t done that in a while. This really helps us out,” Beachy said.

Western’s Matt Reida led off the game with a home run to right field, but Northwestern responded with two runs in the bottom of the first and went on for a 3-1 lead through three innings. Each team had opportunities to take control early, but Western left the bases loaded in the first inning and again in the second and Northwestern followed suit in the third.

The Tigers broke loose for two runs in the fourth inning and then exploded for six runs in the fifth to win going away.

“Early on, I felt both teams had some bad at-bats — maybe a little over-anxious or maybe just excited about the big game,” Berryman said. “I felt like we did a better job the second time through [the batting order] than they did. … I felt we got some better pitches to hit than they did. We moved the ball, forced a couple errors and got a couple big hits.”

Ridlen cracked a two-run single in the fourth inning to make it a 5-1 game, then Miller had a two-run triple and Reed had a two-run homer to center field in the fifth to complete the uprising.

Rist cracked a solo homer in the second inning, but his best work came on the mound where he went the distance and improved his record 5-1. The junior southpaw worked in and out of trouble. He allowed five hits and four walks and hit one batter, but he allowed just one run. He struck out six batters including four over the second and third innings.

“He looked good at times, and he got behind at times. He did a good job battling,” Berryman said. “He came through with some good pitches when they had the bases loaded [in the first and second innings]. He held them at bay and gave our offense a chance.

“If he can keep his curveball down and spot his fastball, he is going to be effective and that is what he did as the game went on. He was maybe a little successfully wild to an extent.”

Western left 10 runners on base.

“We did that [Monday] night against Westfield. We’re just not hitting the ball,” Western coach Ty Calloway said, referring to a 6-2 loss to Westfield on Monday. “And we’ve had more mental mistakes in the last two nights than we’ve had up to this point of the season. We’re going to find out a lot about this team now. We’re going to find out if we have grit or if we’re going to be patsies the rest of the way out.”

Reida went 1-for-2 with his first homer to lead the Panthers. Dirk Dodge chipped in a double.

Aaron Workman started for the Panthers and suffered the loss. He allowed three runs on six hits over three innings. Jordan Kucholick, who is working his way back from an injury, followed with 12/3 innings of relief. The Tigers roughed him up for seven runs and eight hits. Garrett Spall relieved and faced just one batter — Reed, who greeted Spall with the game-ending homer.

        

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