Sample shuts down North Knox

Apr. 30—ELNORA — North Daviess got a complete game win from freshman Zane Sample, who did every thing but score the winning run — however, ND took care of that as well.

ND picked up a 2-1 win over North Knox on Tuesday with a run in the bottom of the seventh to move to 7-4 on season.

In a well-pitched game on both sides, Sample ended up with 10 strikeouts and scattered just three hits, while NK's Levi Pahmeier gave up just five hits, however both teams made two errors.

"That was Zane's first outing. He is a freshman and I couldn't be more proud. He carried us the all the way. I mean, he set the tone defensively. Thankfully, our guys made up for our offense, a very poor offensive performance. So very happy for him, he's going to get to play the game for us," said ND coach Joe Wilson.

"I was proud of that triple from Landon Swartzentruber and he made a nice play scoring from third. We'll take an ugly win at any point. I'm always thinking of sectional and you know, we've got to be better than that if we want to keep on going at tournament time, so hopefully we take that and just keep improving."

ND pitcher Sample worked quickly in the first and was helped by a double play. North Knox put two runners on in the second, but Sample was able to use a pair of strikeouts to kept the game scoreless.

The fast-moving game, which was only 77 minutes long, did feature a single from ND's Kadin Stoll in the bottom of the third, but the score remained 0-0.

North Knox opened the fourth with an single and found themselves with a runner on second but a diving Tyler Stoll made a sliding catch in center to save the scoring threat.

Cam Sassano added a Cougar base hit, but never moved past first first base in the bottom of the inning.

NK was the first to get on the board, as a single put Rylan Oxley on and a sacrifice moved him to second. Eli Elkins added a single to score Oxley and Warriors took a 1-0 lead.

The Cougars had a chance when Caleb Miller reached and made it to second, but Pahmeier continued to deal to keep it at 1-0.

Sample did have two Warriors reach, but again was helped by a double play to eliminate the threat.

Swartzentruber opened the bottom of the sixth with a triple and scored when Sassano hit the ball to third and made it 1-1.

Sample had his best inning of the night in the top of the seventh, striking out all three faced, giving it 10 for the night.

ND opened the half of the frame with a lead off single from Tyler Stoll and he scored all the way from first on an sacrifice bunt from Keaton Graber and an owner throw from first, giving ND the walkoff run and the 2-1 win. The win moved them to 7-4.