Bender blast wins for Skins

By STU SWARTZ
THE GOSHEN NEWS

April 24, 2008 10:08 am

— One swing of junior Brock Bender’s bat Wednesday triggered a Goshen Redskin dash toward home plate at Phend Field.
Bender’s three-run double with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning rallied the Redskins to an 8-7 Northern Lakes Conference victory over the Concord Minutemen.
Junior Spencer Oversen walked and so did sophomore Carl Kay in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, senior John Sevison singled to right and that filled the sacks.
Bender drove the ball into the right center field alley. That sent Oversen, Kay and Sevison scampering home — almost in tandem after they made sure Bender’s drive landed safely.
“That was a big hit by Brock Bender,” said Goshen coach Hal Farmwald. “We have been focusing on driving the ball the other way.
“This team had some tough losses going through a difficult early-season schedule, but they are coming around now and we want to finish off this week strong.
“This game started out typically for us in that we stranded some baserunners on offense and let the opponent jump on top with a big inning.
“But, these kids have proven in the last three games they have a lot of heart and have battled back in every one.
“Carl Kay just recently moved up from junior varsity and he has had an impact on both games we won this week. He has given our team some extra energy.
“We are finally getting some good baseball weather and that sure helps. Our pitchers are getting into a regular rotation and our hitters are getting more swings outdoors.”
Concord jumped on top, 2-0, in the top of the first with senior Ryan McKee ripping a two-run double after junior David Yoder walked and senior Tony DeMarco singled.
In Goshen’s half of the first Bender reached on a force out, went to second on a grounder by senior Jake Drudge, took third on an infield single by junior Brett Hunter and scored on an error.
The Redskins tied it in the second with Oversen drawing a one-out walk and scoring on a double to right center by Kay.
The Minutemen scored four times in the top of the third. Senior Tyler Huxford ripped a run-scoring double, junior Nick Cocanower an RBI single and senior Ben Selner a sacrifice fly with another run scoring on an error.
Bender had an RBI single for Goshen in the fourth while Hunter walked and senior Jordan Short doubled to start the fifth. Hunter tallied on a sacrifice fly by senior Josh Ortiz and Short on a grounder by Kay.
When Cocanower homered with two out in the top of the seventh, it gave Concord a 7-5 lead.
“That changed our thinking going into the bottom of the seventh,” said Farmwald. “Now, we had to play for two runs.”
Both Sevison and Bender had three hits for the Redskins, Hunter and Kay both two. McKee, Cocanower and junior Tyler Haitsma had two each for the Minutemen.
Drudge, who relieved Hunter in the top of the seventh and got one out, received credit for the pitching victory.
Goshen, 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the NLC, hosts West Noble in a non-league makeup game today and then visits NLC rival Wawasee on Friday.
Next week, the Redskins visit NorthWood on Monday, host Northridge on Wednesday and travel to Warsaw on Friday.
Concord is 5-6 and 0-5.