BASEBALL: DuVall pitches no-hitter as Caston salvages split
May 1—FULTON — Senior right-hander Pete DuVall pitched a no-hitter and Caston's bats woke up in a big way Tuesday against Winamac.
One night after a close loss to the Warriors, the Comets dominated during a 10-0 victory in five innings for a two-game series split.
DuVall struck out four in the five-inning no-hitter.
The Comets improved to 5-8 and 4-3 in the HNAC and dropped the Warriors to 6-4 and 5-2.
The Comets were coming off a 2-1 loss at Winamac Monday in a game they had no hits going into the sixth inning against Addison Allen before their comeback attempt in the seventh fell a run short.
They faced another tough lefty in Brody Wenzler on Tuesday but had a lot more success hitting the ball.
"We bounced back pretty well after last night because we couldn't buy the big hit last night for any amount of money," Caston coach Blake Mollenkopf said. "Tonight we were able to put the ball in play hard. [Caleb] Stinson gets it started with a ground ball to short that was able to score a run and then we piece together a few hits and take advantage of a few miscues on their end. A five-run inning, something crooked, really helped us.
"I was pleased with the way we had just a different approach to the plate tonight because we didn't have a whole lot of time after school to work on a bunch. But what we did work on between last night and the game today, they took to the field and did a better job of it."
The Comets broke through with five runs in the second. The inning began with back-to-back walks drawn by Noah Herd and Eli Holloway. Following a passed ball, Stinson brought in a run with an RBI ground out. Grant Yadon followed with an RBI single to score Holloway. Edison Byrum singled to put runners on the corners. Talon Zeider drew a walk to load the bases. Lance Hanna hit a grounder to second but the throw home was over the catcher's head to allow two more runs to score. Gavin Mollenkopf hit a sac fly to right to make it a 5-0 game. That throw got away from the catcher as well but not far enough as Hanna was thrown out at home for the third out.
The Warriors had just two base runners the entire game. Cash Roth drew a walk to lead off the fourth. Conner Burton bunted him to second. But Allen hit a line drive to short that was caught by Zeider who flipped the ball to second baseman Ryan Spin for a double play.
Wyatt Wheeler led off the fifth with a hard hit ball to the third baseman that went off his glove into foul territory and was ruled an error. DuVall left a runner stranded by getting a flyout, a fielder's choice ground out and a strikeout to end the inning.
The Comets struck for five more runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game early. Zeider led off with a single. Hanna drew a walk. Following back-to-back ground outs, Herd drew a walk that loaded the bases with two outs and chased Wenzler. A wild pitch allowed Zeider to score. Holloway drew a walk. Stinson followed with an RBI single to make it 7-0. Yadon had an RBI single, followed by another wild pitch to make it 9-0. Zeider followed with an RBI single, his second hit of the inning, that ended the game.
Coach Mollenkopf said it was good to put it all together on the same night.
"It's been one of those years where stretches of our pitching has been really good and we haven't hit the ball and when our pitching and defense are lacking we're hitting the ball," he said.
DuVall (2-3) continued a good stretch of pitching for the Comets. He dropped his ERA to 2.22.
"Right now they're kind of queuing in and they're not overpowering anybody but man, they're throwing two to three pitches for strikes and guys are off balance and we got them guessing and we're able to pitch a little bit backwards. Tonight Pete did a nice job and I'm real proud of the way he pitched," Mollenkopf said.
The loss snapped a four-game win streak for Winamac.
"Errors and control on the mound," Winamac coach Mark Hendryx said. "We haven't pitching issues. We had errors earlier in the year, especially against Pioneer and they've kind of gone away. Then tonight they showed their face again. But I told the boys, we haven't had a real practice in about a week and a half. It's starting to show. You can't work on things in games. So tomorrow we have a lot to work on. I told them the big thing here is how they respond to it. It's high school, you're going to have some really bad days, you've just got to bounce back and be ready to play Thursday."
Wenzler (3-1) was charged with three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. He entered having allowed just one earned run on the season in 21 1/3 innings. His ERA is still at 1.08.
"Tonight honestly, and I talked with Wenzler, I don't think he was ready," Hendryx said. "I don't think he got loose because there in the third and the fourth, he started throwing pretty good again. We shut Addison off early last night in the sixth so he'll be ready Saturday and Wenzler we kept him under 100 so he'll be ready to go Saturday."
The good news for the Warriors is at 5-2 in the conference standings they're one game back of LaVille and tied with North Judson for second place. Caston is in fourth place at 4-3 tied with Pioneer.
Winamac hosts Culver for a league game Thursday before hosting first-place LaVille for a doubleheader Saturday.
"It's going to be tight going down," Hendryx said. "That's the thing, Triton's got a kid that can beat anybody, Erickson at Pioneer can beat anybody, it's going to be really tight I think all the way down to the wire. We've got to take care of Culver Thursday and we've got two big ones with LaVille Saturday."
Caston hosts Tippecanoe Valley for a non-conference game Thursday before hosting Knox for an HNAC twinbill Saturday.
"You're going to have to get to double digits in the conference to win it with 14 games, but we're just going to work at it and see if we can get there. It's not over by a long shot," Mollenkopf said.
