On Saturday, April 25, East Noble’s Varsity baseball team hosted the Garrett Railroaders in a doubleheader on a gloomy, rainy day that never reached 50 on the thermometer. The rain persisted sporadically in the first game and then more consistently in the second as hand warmers in the Knights’ dugout were being passed around to keep the players warm and ready to play. Despite the cold and rain, the Knights were able to fight through the day and take two wins from the Railroaders by scores of 6-5 in the first game and 7-4 in the second.

On the mound in the first game for the Knights was senior Bryce Wolfe. Wolfe pitched a complete game allowing 6 hits but the Knights’ defense committed 5 errors, contributing to the Railroaders’ run total. In the 3^rd inning, the Knights took a 4-2 lead but gave it up in the 6^th and 7^th innings after the Railroaders scored 3 runs to make the score 5-4. Down a run in the bottom of the 7^th, Wolfe evened the game up with an RBI single. With heads up base running, Wolfe was able to steal third base on a bad throw by the catcher and proceed to take home to win the game with a walk-off for the Knights.

“The team fought through the whole game,” commented Cory Jacquay, East Noble’s head coach. “We got up early but when they came back we did a great job staying in the game and fighting for the win when we had our backs against the wall. Bryce did a fantastic job pitching and we performed at the plate when we needed to.”

Wolfe finished the game with 2 RBIs and senior Colten Williams also drove in a run to help the Knights to their first victory. Sophomore Dylan Hunley had 2 hits and senior Austin Holliday had a base hit as well.

After their first victory, the Knights took a short break and were back at it, even as the rain persisted and the field was being heavily maintenanced between every inning. This time, it was sophomore Zach Lane’s turn to take the mound and between his stellar pitching and the defense making plays to keep Garrett baserunners from advancing, the Knights were able to hold the Railroaders off again. Lane pitched a complete game as well. The Knights got the bats going again and took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 1^st inning. Garrett answered in the top of the 3^rd with 3 runs of their own but the Knights scored 2 more in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-4 lead which is where it stayed until the bottom of the 6^th inning when junior Mason Haines had a 2-RBI double to cushion the lead for Lane on the mound.

“We played really well as a team in the second game,” said Jacquay. “We scored runs again and Mason’s double in the 6^th helped Lane out so he could focus on just getting ground balls instead of having to try to strike everyone out. Our defense kept the innings short which took some of the work off Lane and we made very few mistakes.”

Haines finished the game with 3 hits and 3 RBIs while senior Marc Musselman contributed 2 RBIs to the Knights run total. Sophomore Trey Bruce forced 4 walks alone which helped get some baserunners for the Knights and put pressure on the Railroaders. In his complete game, Lane registered 8 strikeouts.

“It was good to walk away with 2 wins on the day, and really anytime a team can add 2 wins in a day, it’s a good day,” said Jacquay. “We had a lot of young guys contributing throughout the day which is always good to see.”

The Knights improved their record to 6-4 on the year and hope to bring in some more wins when they start conference play this week.