Published: May 01, 2008 10:53 am         

Skins pull plug on Raiders

For a baseball team trying to protect a lead, that final out is often difficult to attain.

Goshen High School junior pitcher Spencer Oversen wanted it badly Wednesday and got it as the Redskins edged Northern Lakes Conference leader Northridge, 6-4, at Phend Field.

The Redskins, trailing 3-2, had gone ahead with pairs of tallies in the fifth and sixth inning with the assistance of four Northridge errors.

Oversen helped his own cause in the fifth with an RBI single while senior Jordan Short also had an infield hit.

Senior Jake Drudge walked and junior Brett Hunter singled in the sixth with both scoring on Raider miscues for a 6-3 GHS lead.

The seventh inning was not without drama as Northridge junior Alex Summy beat out an infield roller, junior Cody Troyer singled to right and junior Luke Hofsommer walked to fill the bases with nobody out.

Oversen gave up one run on a sacrifice fly by Raider junior Kyle Bachman, but buckled down and ended the game by getting two Northridge batters on grounders to senior shortstop Josh Ortiz.

It was the first NLC loss of the season for Northridge, now 14-2 overall and 5-1 in the league going into a Friday game against NorthWood.

The Redskins are rolling with a five-game winning streak. They are now 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the NLC heading into a Friday date at Warsaw.

First-year GHS head coach Hal Farmwald said, “The last couple weeks the kids are simply doing a better job putting the ball in play and forcing opponents to make mistakes.

“When we lost to Northridge a couple weeks ago, we struck out nine times in the first four innings. You don’t make things happen that way.

“Spencer Oversen threw the ball extremely well and did a great job. He retired the leadoff hitter in each of the first six innings and then the seventh got a little exciting.

“His pitch count was getting up there, but he was actually throwing harder in the sixth and seventh innings. That just shows what type of competitor he is.

“We got some timely hitting and were able to hold down a Northridge team which hits the ball extremely hard.”

The defensive gem of the day for Goshen was a diving, backhanded grab in center field by Short on a shot hit by Raider senior Brandon Wingard in the fourth inning.

“That was a fantastic catch and certainly changed a feeling in the game,” said Farmwald. “You don’t win in the NLC without making good plays in the field.”

First-year NHS coach Andrew Brabender said, “We just made too many mistakes. We should have been out of both the fifth and sixth innings with no runs scored. You don’t beat good NLC teams playing that way.

“We had been winning a lot of games easily, but you’re not going to ‘dime’ (10-run rule) everyone in this league. We are still a fairly young team with only three seniors starting this game.

“We are in a little bit of a rut right now. We actually hit the ball fairly hard in this game, but things didn’t fall our way. The kids battled down to the final out, though.”

Summy had an RBI single in the second inning for Northridge while Short homered and senior John Sevison had an RBI single in Goshen’s half of that frame.

The Raiders took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth on a two-run single by senior Lincoln Rassi after Cody Troyer singled and Bachman reached on an error.