Northeast had shredded two of the top pitchers in the area in Brody Cooper and Peyton Coleman; Hans Plackemeier, the West Nodaway skipper, sent out Korbin Koch to try and shut down his old mates from last summer. It didn’t work as the Rockets suffered death by 1,000 cuts last Tuesday and never got off the launch pad. Like North Nodaway, the Bluejays only needed one extra base hit to trounce West Nodaway 19-3.
It started in the top of the first when Spencer Weir whistled one past Jacob Flint for a single. Chet Spire flied out, but then Spencer Weir went to second on a wild pitch. That opened up the floodgates as Andrew Freemyer singled to center and went second on the throw home as the throw was off line. Once again, Rowdy West singled and once again, he took second as West Nodaway made a futile throw home as Freemyer came home safely. One would have thought the Rockets had learned their lesson, but they tried again to throw home on Ethan Adwell’s single, and once again, Rowdy West trotted home safely as Adwell went to second on the play.
Brayden Welch beat out a slow roller to David Hull and beat out his throw from short; he stole second and Adwell scored on Spencer Gray’s groundout. Chance Barber and Reed McIntyre walked and the top of the order came up for Northeast. Spencer Weir roped one down the right field line to score two more, stole second, and McIntyre came home when the throw was off line. One of the Rocket coaches said after the inning to his players that they should have gotten six outs. But instead, Northeast was down 7-0, and there was more to come in the second inning.
After Northeast short-circuited the Rockets in the second when catcher Andrew Freemyer shot down Korbin Koch stealing, Rowdy West singled to the wall in right center to open up the second. A great throw from rightfielder Dustin Riddle kept him on first, but walks to Ethan Adwell and Brayden Welch brought up Spencer Gray, whose double, the lone extra base hit of the afternoon for Northeast, opened up the floodgates again and brought in two more runs.
That chased Koch from the mound and brought in Jacob Flint on the mound. He had as slow of a breaking ball that Northeast has seen this year, and that kept them off balance. However, he was not able to find the strike zone consistently enough, which kept the floodgates open. Chance Barber and Reed McIntyre walked, forcing in another run and Spencer Weir reached when the ball went under Koch’s legs for an error, letting in two more runs. The return throw to Flint got away, letting McIntyre get to third and Weir stole second. Chet Spire hit one to the hole at short and Koch’s throw was not in time to beat Spire. First baseman Isaiah Spire let the ball get away, allowing another run to score and moving Spire to second.
Flint got to two strikes on Andrew Freemyer, but then plunked him, and Maverick Price (running for Freemyer) and Spire went to second and third on a while pitch. Rowdy West walked. Ethan Adwell was froze by one of Flint’s slow breaking balls, but Brayden Welch walked to force in Spire. Spencer Gray reached on an error when leftfielder Trace Hunt lost the ball in the sun, allowing two more runs to score. Chance Barber and Reed McIntyre walked, chasing Flint and bringing in David Hull to pitch. Hull got out of the inning and Northeast off the board until the fifth, but the 18-0 deficit was too much for West Nodaway to climb out of.
Rowdy West pitched for four innings to get the win. Andrew Freemyer, who hadn’t pitched in a while, came on in relief in the fifth. He was rusty at first, walking three straight batters and throwing eight straight balls at one point. But he settled down and got out of the inning. The final out happened when one of West Nodaway’s runners jumped over home plate, missed the bag, and was called out on an appeal play when Freemyer threw to Rowdy West.
Rowdy West and Andrew Freemyer were named unanimously to the all-conference squad. Spencer Weir and Chet Spire were also named to the squad.
Northeast also beat DeKalb 24-6 last Monday.
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