North Putnam baseball defeats Cloverdale 10-0
BAINBRIDGE -- North Putnam's Jordan Berry took the mound against visiting Cloverdale and warmed up a brisk April night. Berry threw a no-hitter to as North defeated the Clovers 10-0 in five innings.
"We've wanted to get off to a good start this year and we haven't yet, so that was our focus tonight," Cougar head coach Norm Fish. "Get out early and do whatever we have to do to get some runs. We were running and trying to move people. We've been kind of stagnant. Things worked out tonight."
After seeing limited plate appearances by his team and multiple fielding errors, Cloverdale head coach Tim Savini was understandably downbeat after the game.
"We continue to shoot ourselves in the foot and against a good time like North Putnam you can't make errors and expect to be in the game. They pitched well," Savini said.
Berry faced just 15 batters in five innings, with the only person to reach base was the Clovers' Duke Luvins who was hit by a pitch in the fifth. Berry struck out seven batters, with no walks to get the win.
When asked after the contest about what he saw in the game and about Berry's pitching performance, Fish responded quickly.
"It was cold," he joked. "I thought Jordan Berry pitched a good game. I was glad to see that. So far I couldn't ask much more from him." Along with his dominate performance on the mound; Berry was 2-for-3 with a double. Teammate Kyle Rooker also 2-for-3 with two triple with two runs scored. Kyle Alcorn was 1-for-4 with a double.
The Cougars attacked the bases as well with Griffen Dahlstrom collecting two stolen bases while J.T. Francies collected one.
Fish has voiced concern about the Cougars' bats and after collecting 10 hits on Monday; he still thought his squad could use some improvement.
"We finally put some hits together tonight but we're still not hitting like I'd like. It was better but we still got a long way to go with our offense," Fish said.
For the Clovers, not much went their way on Monday night. In addition to getting no hits, they lost their right fielder Bryce Tomlinson after going after a fly ball and another player was struck in the eye by a ball behind the dugout.
When asked about what approach his squad would take into today's rematch, Savini made it apparent that they would stick to their original game plan.
"There's not secret formula, it's just put the bat on the ball, our pitcher not walk people and put the ball over the plate and people field better. Hopefully we can do a better job tomorrow," Savini commented.
Fish acknowledged the sting of the Rockville game where the Cougars lost 12-1, but he things that Monday's victory could be a step in the right direction.
"In the Rockville game we didn't really compete that game," Fish replied. "We got to get back on it and tonight was a start."
The Clovers will be the home team at North Putnam as the teams go head-to-head again tonight with a 7 p.m. start time.
At North Putnam
Cloverdale 000 00 -- 0 0 3
North Putnam 013 24 -- 10 10 0
WP -- Berry
LP -- Martin
3B -- Rooker 2
2B -- Berry, Alcorn
Next game -- The Clovers will be the home team at North Putnam as the teams go head-to-head again tonight with a 7 p.m. start time.