Baker's blast helps Lapel outlast rival Frankton

Apr. 9—LAPEL — Cody Baker came out swinging Tuesday to open the Nick Muller Memorial Baseball Tournament.

Two-time defending champion Lapel needed the senior third baseman's pop in a close-than-the-score-suggests 11-5 first-round victory against archrival Frankton.

"There was multiple times in that game that it was tight," Bulldogs coach Matt Campbell said. "It was kind of sloppy on our side, and I'm sure (Frankton coach Caleb Maddox) probably said the same thing about his. So it's nice early in the season when offense can come through because for us that hasn't been the case so far."

Baker was 3-for-4 with a pair of triples, a home run and four RBI.

The biggest blow came in the bottom of the sixth inning with Lapel (3-1) looking to tack on a few more insurance runs.

After Camden Novak drew a lead-off walk, Kai Newman sacrificed him to second base and Rylie Hudson drove him in with a single up the middle that took a bad hop over the Frankton shortstop's outstretched arm.

That brought Baker up with the Bulldogs nursing a 7-5 advantage. Hudson — who was 3-for-4 with two RBI and got the win on the mound — nearly was picked off before stealing second base.

Then Baker launched a 2-0 pitch over the fence in left-center field to lift a huge weight from his team's collective shoulders and all-but seal the victory.

"I just saw the ball really well," Baker said. "They threw me a lot of fastballs, and I just caught that one up and in and hit it."

Baker's long ball helped get what promises to be a long and challenging week for Lapel off to a good start.

The Bulldogs next are scheduled to face perennial powerhouse Pendleton Heights in Wednesday's second round.

The weather forecast is not comforting, but Tuesday's game was completed with just a few showers in the middle innings.

Lapel looked as though it might make quick work of the evening when a double by Newman, single by Hudson and triple by Baker keyed a three-run first inning.

But the Eagles (0-4) clawed back when Shaun Jarrett singled and manufactured an unearned run in the second.

A pair of Frankton errors returned the favor in the third as the Bulldogs scored two unearned runs with the help of a Hudson single, Jackson Cripe double and Eli Suchocki single to move in front 5-1.

"We obviously — we didn't play our best," Baker said. "But we expected a tight game, and I'm just glad we came out with the win."

The Eagles again rallied in the fourth as rain began to fall and thunder rumbled in the background.

An RBI double by Wyatt Smith and a single for Riley Inglis helped push across two runs to slice the deficit in half.

Lapel got one back in the bottom of the frame on Baker's second triple to the gap in right-center, but Frankton was just getting started.

Max Barr led off the fifth with a single and scored on a single by Caine Oakley, and the Eagles had the tying runs at second and third base with one out.

Hudson got a strikeout to end his day on the mound, and reliever Corbin Vibbert struck out the first batter he faced to end the threat.

Hudson fanned eight and surrendered just two earned runs on seven hits with a pair of walks over 4 2/3 innings for the win.

Vibbert's work had just begun.

After first baseman Newman made an outstanding catch against the fence in foul territory to retire the first batter in the top of the sixth, Inglis launched a homer over the left-field fence to cut the deficit to 6-5 and put the pressure on the home team.

Newman's play — his second remarkable catch in foul territory of the game — might have saved a baserunner that would have potentially tied the game on the homer.

"Kai saved us a couple times over there," Baker said. "And without those, it could have been a completely different ballgame. So just plays like that all around the field from everybody really helped us win today."

Vibbert hit the next batter but got a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning and Frankton's final serious threat.

He struck out three and allowed just the lone run on two hits and a walk over 2 1/3 crucial innings of relief.

Vibbert's outing allowed Lapel to save some arms for the remainder of the draw. To defend their back-to-back titles, the Bulldogs must win four games in five days.

"He got the first start of the year, opening day for us, and he did the exact same thing," Campbell said of Vibbert. "Just threw strikes and competed with a couple off-speed pitches, and that's just what he's done."

Lapel slammed the door with five runs in the bottom of the sixth.

After Baker's blast, Darl Gustin walked and scored on a wild pitch and Landon Brown walked and scored on Talan Jarrett's single.

Inglis, Barr and Nate Moore each finished 2-for-3 to lead Frankton's attack. The Eagles are scheduled to face the loser of Tuesday's suspended game between Anderson and Liberty Christian on Thursday.

The Bulldogs will next see a familiar face in nine-time champion Pendleton Heights.

"It was no surprise when the draw came and they were early in the tournament for us," Campbell said of the Arabians. "But they're gonna be the team that everybody's gonna have to beat or everybody wants to play at some point to prove whether you can hang with what their program has always been. So we all look forward to it."