Cougar baseball downs Cadets

CLAYTON -- The 10th ranked North Putnam baseball team moved to 13-2 with its 4-1 victory over Cascade Thursday night.

The Cougars, who are usually a powerhouse at the plate, had no extra base hits on the night but connected on five singles. Collecting hits for North were Kyle Rooker, Griffen Dahlstrom, Shawn Diebold, Brock Jones and Tyler Watson.

Watson's single came in the fourth inning as he knocked in two RBIs, which proved to be the game's winning runs. Watson and C.J. Lofton laid down sacrifice bunts in the contest.

Jordan Berry commanded the mound for the Cougars, throwing for six hits, two walks and 12 strikeouts.

Connor Guthrie threw for the Cadets and stuck out 10 Cougar batters. Guthrie presented North with a problem they haven't faced much this season.

"We haven't seen hardly any left-handers all year and Guthrie's a solid pitcher. We did what we had to do," Cougar head coach Norm Fish said. "Guthrie pitched a pretty good game," Fish said. "He's pretty solid."

Fish spoke of the importance of Lofton and Watson's bats and acknowledged that some of his bats aren't as lively as he would like. Although he praised his top five batter for their performance, Fish was displeased with the amount of strikeouts the team collected on the night.

"We had one inning where they hit back-to-back," Fish said. "The freshmen came through and knocked in two runs. We basically had one good inning.

"We struck out too much. That was the only downer," he concluded.

North Putnam will host Cascade at 4:30 p.m. today

At Cascade

North Putnam 100 201 0 -- 4 5 2

Cascade 001 000 0 -- 1 6 x

WP -- Berry (NP)

Next game -- North Putnam will host Cascade at 4:30 p.m. today.