Baseball: Newman builds early four-run lead, fends off late Princeton rally for Three Rivers Conference win

STERLING – The Newman baseball team capitalized on errors and wild pitches early, grabbing a four-run lead in the second inning Monday before getting the bats going late, and finishing off Princeton 6-3 in a Three Rivers East game in Sterling.

The Comets loaded the bases in the bottom of the second after Brennen Cook, Jaesen Johns and Mason Glaudel were hit by pitches in three of the first four at-bats. A wild pitch during Kory Mullen’s at-bat scored Cook for a 1-0 Newman lead, a subsequent wild pitch scored Johns to make it 2-0, then a Mullen walk and Kyle Wolfe hit by pitch loaded the bases again.

After an out on the basepaths, Brendan Tunink and Ethan Van Landuit drew consecutive walks, plating Glaudel, and Nolan Britt drew a walk to score Trenton Hicks, the courtesy runner for Wolfe.

“That’s kind of what we’ve been doing, is just having that one inning where we put up a ton of runs and then we kind of sit after that. It’s kind of lackluster,” Mullen said. “What our coaches have been telling us is, we need to add on to those big innings, because we tend to sit, and we just need to keep the pressure on them and put the foot on the gas pedal.”

[ Photos from Newman vs. Princeton baseball ]

Down 4-0 with one out to go in the second, Princeton made a pitching change, subbing Wyatt Baker for Ean Compton.

Baker struck out Cook right away to end the inning, and the Tigers answered Newman’s four-run rally with one run of their own in the top of the third. Bennett Sierens drew a two-out walk to start the rally, then Augie Christiansen ripped a triple deep into right field to bring him home.

The Comet defense quickly recovered, getting a groundout from Ryan Brucker in the next at-bat to preserve the 4-1 lead.

“I thought it was a good game. We always pride ourselves on how we play defense,” Wolfe said. “I think everyone on the team, they give 110% effort every play, and that’s what keeps us in these games.”

Newman expanded its lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the sixth, stringing four hits together and plating two runs. Wolfe started the rally with a one-out single to left field, then Tunink followed with another single to left, Van Landuit singled to center field to bring in Hicks (running for Wolfe), and Tunink came home on an obstruction call at third base. After a Britt double to right, Princeton made its second pitching change, as Noah LaPorte came on for Baker.

LaPorte notched a strikeout to limit the damage, and the Tigers turned around to score two runs in the top of the seventh.

Danny Cihocki led off with a single and reached second on an error throwing to first. Matthew Lucas nearly hit a two-run home run next, blasting a ball deep into center field near the fence, but Mullen showed off his range, tracking the ball down and stretching out for the catch to keep the Newman lead at 6-1.

“I didn’t even think I was going to catch that in the first place,” Mullen said. “I just kept on running after it. I even had to change the direction a little bit, and just running straight toward the fence, I put my glove there and the ball was in it. Almost a little bit of luck, but it was nice.”

“It was amazing,” Wolfe said of Mullen’s play. “That ball was hit so hard, and I didn’t think he was ever going to get to it, and he kept turning left and right and going back and caught it. It was awesome.”

Ace Christiansen followed with a single to right field, reaching second on an error throwing to first, while Cihocki came home. LaPorte hit a line drive along the third-base line next, and Christiansen scored on another error, cutting the Princeton deficit to 6-3.

The Comet defense shut the door on a comeback in the next two at-bats, however, as first baseman Grant Koerner tracked down a ball in foul territory, and Augie Christiansen grounded out.

“Bats are slow. They’ve been slow for the past week,” Mullen said. “We just got all of our players back now, so we’ve been a little slow, but defense held strong this game up until the last inning. We did have a few errors, but defense has been our main strong point for the whole season, pretty much. We don’t give up many runs, and we’re just fundamentally sound in the field.”

Leading hitters for Newman were Van Landuit, who went 1 for 3 with one RBI; and Wolfe, Britt and Tunink, who each went 1 for 2.

Wolfe pitched a complete game for the win, allowing six hits, one earned run and one walk, while notching one strikeout.

“It was really big, trying to get momentum for regionals coming up,” Wolfe said. “To come out here and beat this good team is really good for us.”

Augie Christiansen went 1 for 4 with a one-run triple to lead Princeton at the plate.

Baker went four innings on the mound for the Tigers, allowing four hits, two runs (one earned) and two walks, while striking out one.

“Our starting pitcher really struggled. In the second inning, he walked four and hit four, so they got four runs, put us in a big hole,” Princeton coach Wick Warren said. “But the kid that came in and pitched relief, Wyatt Baker, did a heck of a job, and Newman didn’t have a hit until the sixth inning. But they had four runs. We hit the ball, outhit them for the game, but you can’t put up those kinds of numbers early and expect to win most times.

“So I was proud of the guys, the way they battled back and kept fighting. It’s kind of who we are. Newman’s a good team, you can’t wait on them to make mistakes, you gotta go after them. And they didn’t make mistakes. So we’ll hopefully play it a little bit better on Thursday.”