COUNTY BASEBALL: Cougars beat SP, Cubs to offset season’s slow start and win crown

Sunday, April 16, 2017
North Putnam successfully defended its Putnam County baseball title on Saturday.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

North Putnam entered Saturday’s Putnam County high school baseball tournament with one of the field’s worst records at 2-5.

Coach Brian Jeter knew his team was just a few runs away from reciprocating that mark, having lost those games by a total of seven runs.

The Cougars put it all together on Saturday, getting clutch hitting from junior Kaine Benge to defeat South Putnam 8-4 and avenge two losses earlier in the week, then defeating Greencastle 6-1 in the championship game to repeat their 2016 title.

“We weren’t going to win a lot of games with a lot of runs,” Jeter said. “Every game has been tight. South Putnam is a great ballclub, and this could have gone any way. We have had a tough schedule so far.”

North Putnam got a combined effort from Jack Kendall and Benge in the semifinals, and a complete game from Max Haste in the championship game.

Trailing South Putnam 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Benge hit a two-run double to put his team ahead.

The Eagles came back strongly with three runs in the top of the sixth, as Aiden LeBlanc had an RBI single, Kyle Hall drew a bases-loaded walk and Jackson Wood had an RBI on a sacrifice fly .

The Cougars broke out in the bottom of the sixth for six runs. South Putnam starter Dylan Wood gave up a triple to Kendall, who later scored on a wild pitch, then loaded the bases with walks.

The Eagles made a pitching change at that point, and Benge greeted the reliever with a bases-clearing triple to right field. Kendall later walked with the bases loaded to force in another run.

Against Greencastle, Haste — the all-state and Indiana All-Star football player headed to play for Marian this fall — retired the first nine hitters and allowed just a fourth-inning single to Jackie Scanland. Haste walked three and struck out 12.

Kaine Benge of North Putnam gets a key hit to right field against South Putnam on Saturday.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

“South Putnam did a good job of getting the pitch count up on Jack in the first game, but Kaine came on and finished it up well,” Jeter said. “Max only threw 26 pitches through four innings, so he was really in control. Our pitching was definitely outstanding.”

The Cougars got their first run in the second inning as Evan Davies walked, was sacrificed to second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk.

North Putnam added another run in the third as Duke Duff walked, was sacrificed to second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a Hayden Rudes single.

Greencastle got its only run in the fourth as NIck Costin walked, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on Scanland’s single.

The Cougars added three runs in the fifth as Darrin Tennis had an RBI single, Kendall had an RBI double and Jake Powell added another RBI single.

Kendall tripled to lead off the seventh, and scored as Powell walked with the bases loaded.

Greencastle coach Ben Wells was pleased his team was able to advance to the championship game, after defeating Cloverdale in the semifinals, and saw some positives in the loss.

“North Putnam is a very good team,” Wells said. “They are solid down the lineup and play great defense. Max Haste pitched a great game. He did a great job of switching it up on our hitters and it was hard for us to get anything going off of him. They are going to be tough to beat moving forward.”

Wells used Alex Johnson, Tanner Sanders and Alex Costin on the mound and was pleased that trio was able to hold the Cougars to just six runs.

“AJ gave us two solid innings. and I was very pleased with how Tanner and Alex both pitched for us,” he said. “We gave up three runs in the fifth but other than that they did a good job of holding them in check and grinding out innings. We just could not get anything going at the plate to support it. We just ran out of steam.”

The middle game of the day saw Cloverdale and Greencastle tied 3-3 after four innings, and the Clovers putting up one in the top of the fifth inning to take the lead at 4-3 as Tyce Jackson walked, stole second, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an passed ball.

Greencastle came through with one of its biggest innings of the year with five runs in the bottom of the fifth and went on to record an 8-5 win to reach the finals.

Scanland singled with one out in the fifth and scored on a Gus Manion triple. Manion later scored on a wild pitch.

Rylan Lucas walked to continue the rally and scored on a passed ball and two wild pitches. Noah Alexander walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and came home on a single by Jacob Harris.

The Tiger Cubs continued manufacturing runs as Jacob Meyer walked, went to second on a wild pitch and also came home on the Harris single.

“It was good to go out in the first game and get a win,” Wells said. “Jackie was big for us on the mound today. He struggled a little bit at times with his control, and we used him more than we intended to [4.2 innings], but he is our guy and we felt like he gave us our best chance to win.”

Sanders pitched one third of an inning for the Tiger Cubs and Manion came on for the final two frames.

“I was very pleased with how our defense is developing,” Wells said. “For as young as we are, we have been making a lot of plays and that gives our pitchers a lot of confidence and that held true against Cloverdale. I was very happy with how Gus came in and closed down the game for us. He did exactly what we needed him to do.”

The Tiger Cubs have struggled for the past few seasons, and Wells is pleased with the progress the team is showing.

“The last few years the guys would have gotten down like we did in the fourth and they would start hanging their heads,” he said. “This year’s crew just bounces right back. These guys keep fighting for seven innings and I love that about them.

“We are growing and showing progress in each game. We keep taking positive steps forward, without any major setbacks which is important for such a young team.”

Championship game

North Putnam 011 030 1 — 6 6 0

Greencastle 000 100 0 — 1 1 0

WP — Haste

First semifinal game

South Putnam 100 003 0 — 4

North Putnam 000 026 x — 8

WP — Benge

Second semifinal game

Cloverdale 000 311 0 — 5

Greencastle 011 150 x — 8

WP — Scanland

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