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Junior southpaw dominant as Bulldogs top Raiders
Mar. 27—MIDDLETOWN — Early in the season and on a cold day, offense figured to be at a premium when Shenandoah hosted Lapel in its baseball season opener Wednesday evening.
That certainly proved to be the case, and how much could be attributed to temperatures in the low 40s is a matter that can be debated. But what there can be no doubt about is the responsibility that must fall on the shoulders of Bulldogs junior Kai Newman.
Well, his left shoulder to be more precise.
The southpaw struck out 13 batters over 5 2/3 dominant innings, and the Lapel offense took advantage of Raiders' defensive miscues as the Bulldogs rolled to a 6-1 win over Shenandoah.
Lapel (2-0) has surrendered just one run in its first two games while the Raiders fell to 0-1 after their regularly scheduled season opener at Southwood on Tuesday was postponed.
"It's outstanding to see that from him early," Lapel coach Matt Campbell said. "It's kind of what he's been working on all offseason, so it's nice to see it produce out here. Hopefully, that sets the tone for him."
Newman needed some defensive help to shake off a rocky first inning, but once he recovered and settled in, there was little the Shenandoah hitters could do against him.
He retired the Raiders in order, struck out the side three times each and held the four through nine batters in the Shenandoah lineup to 0-for-13 with 11 strikeouts. The four Raiders hits came in two innings and came off the bats of two players, Drew Fredenburg and Collin Osenbaugh.
His bread-and-butter all evening resided on the outside corner against the Raiders' right-handed batters. Of Newman's 13 punchouts, seven came on called third strikes as he locked Shenandoah up with his breaking ball and off-speed pitch.
"Fastball runs back in to a lefty and away from a righty, so working outside on either side works, back door or running away," Newman said. "Curve ball coming in to a lefty or away from a righty, deep is good."
The Lapel offense was limited to just one hit by three Raiders' pitchers, but the Shenandoah defense provided ample opportunities for the Bulldogs to cash in.
After Camden Novak drew a leadoff walk against Fredenburg, he stole second and third. Fredenburg struck out the next two Lapel batters and was on the verge of escaping unscathed, but a throwing error on a Cody Baker grounder scored Novak. Jaxson Cripe followed with the lone Bulldog hit, a soft single to right center that scored Baker, and it was 2-0.
The first three Shenandoah batters reached in the bottom of the inning, but some timely defense and Newman's own recipe on the mound limited the defense.
Fredenburg singled and Ethan Loy walked to start the inning. Osenbaugh hit a double to right center, but Fredenburg was tagging up in case the ball was caught and was thrown out at the plate on a relay from Talan Jarrett to Landan Brown to Rylie Hudson. Loy scored on a wild pitch, but Newman struck out Ezra Byrd and induced Harrison Jessup into a foul pop out to end the threat.
And that was it for the Shenandoah offense, other than a one-out Fredenburg single and two-out single by Osenbaugh in the third.
"The first inning, first of the game, it was hard because it was cold and windy, and I couldn't feel my hand very much," Newman said. "But I got back to the dugout to warm up and get the feeling back in my arm. Feeling the curveball in my arm is especially good."
The Lapel offense struck for two more unearned runs against Fredenburg.
Darl Gustin walked to lead off the inning, and Brown put down a sacrifice bunt but reached when Fredenburg misplayed it. After Collin Newman grounded into a fielder's choice, Gustin scored when Jarrett reached on another Raiders' error. Newman scored on the back end of a double-steal, and the Bulldogs had a 4-1 lead.
Loy relieved Fredenburg in the third, retired the first eight batters he faced and kept Lapel off the scoreboard until two more unearned runs scored in the seventh.
"Their misfortunes turned into our fortunes, and that's baseball early in March," Campbell said. "You know that's going to be a good team, probably tomorrow. They're not going to make the same mistakes twice, and they really calmed down, too."
"We settled in, I would say, with our pitching and defensively," Shenandoah coach Ryan Painter said. "I would say we're not happy with our approaches at the plate today."
With two outs and a runner aboard in the sixth, Newman was relieved by Hudson, who retired the final four batters — including three more by strikeout — to earn the save.
Lapel will be off until April 5 when it travels to Park Tudor before hosting Greenfield-Central a day later as it prepares to defend its back-to-back Nick Muller championships the following week.
The Raiders will look to bounce back Saturday when they host Union County for an 11 a.m. doubleheader.
Contact Rob Hunt at
or 765-640-4886.
