Perry’s Hunter Scott Starts the game on the Hill for the Commodores as they hosted the Waynesfield Goshen Tigers Thursday Night in Perry Township.
Nate Reynolds | The Lima News
PERRY TOWNSHIP – Perry’s Hunter Scott was in total command on the pitching mound in Thursday’s non-conference baseball game against visiting Waynesfield-Goshen.
The left-handed Scott allowed just one base hit and one run in his 5 2/3 innings of work as Perry pulled away for a 6-1 victory over Waynesfield-Goshen.
With the win, Perry improved to 3-0 overall. Waynesfield-Goshen slipped to 0-2.
These two teams will play again later this spring in a Northwest Central Conference matchup.
Waynesfield-Goshen’s first and only hit of Thursday’s game came in the sixth inning. Landon DeWitt had a two-out single for the Tigers.
In the sixth inning, Brady Shively moved over from his shortstop position to close out the game on the mound for Perry.
Scott struck out 12 and walked two batters. He threw 92 pitches on the night. Scott had a stretch from late in the first inning through most of the sixth where he retired 14 consecutive batters.
Perry coach Mark Hoersten said Scott’s pitch count was not the only thing he had to consider.
“Coming in (to the sixth inning), he (Scott) was flirting with a no-hitter. That was playing into it as well. I was sitting there thinking, ‘It’s pretty early in the year’,” Hoersten said with a grin. “But he plays all the time. He plays in the fall. He plays all summer. He’s a baseball player. So, he’s used to it, even though it’s early. So, we wanted him to have it (a no-hitter) if it was possible.”
Scott added, “Early on, I was getting deep in the counts and that brought my pitch count up. I want to keep working and keep getting better. There’s always room for improvement, but I’m pretty happy with tonight.”
Offensively, it took a while for Perry to register its first base hit against W-G starting pitcher Jace Kaufman.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Brady Shively singled to erase Kaufman’s bid for a no-hitter. The Commodores scored five runs on four hits in the fifth to pull out to a 5-0 lead.
Kaufman worked 4 1/3 innings before being lifted for Jay Carter, who finished the game on the mound for the Tigers.
Kaufman was tabbed for four runs on two hits. Kaufman struck out five, walked five, and hit a batter. He threw 93 pitches.
W-G scored its lone run in the sixth on a groundout by Jace Kaufman that scored Dalton Jordan from third base. Jordan reached first on an error. Jordan advanced to second with a stolen base, and then eventually moved over to third on a passed ball.
Perry ended the game with six hits but left a total of nine baserunners stranded.
Each team committed two errors.
Brodey Douce led Perry at the plate, going 2 for 4. In the big fifth inning for the Commodores, Douce smacked a double that plated two runs. He also scored two runs. Tate Essex went 2 for 4 with two RBI for Perry.
Hoersten was impressed with Kaufman’s pitching effort on Thursday.
“The Kaufman kid was bringing it up there pretty good,” Hoersten said. “He no-hit us in the tournament last year. We know him. He’s a good athlete and a good pitcher. It just took us a little time to catch up to him. There were a couple of innings where we started to get him deep into the count. We made him throw a lot more pitches. I’m sure his pitch count was over 90 (pitches). I thought if we could just get good at-bats and force him to throw more pitches, it would start to pay off. … And it did.”
Box score (r-h-e)
W-G 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 – 1 1 2
Perry 0 0 0 0 5 1 X – 6 6 2
WP – Hunter Scott (P)
LP – Jace Kaufman (WG)
2B – Perry: Brodey Douce 1
Records: Perry 3-0; W-G 0-2
