Northern's lack of command costs Huskies in 15-1 loss to East Fairmont

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — Northern’s pitching staff struggled with command, walking 11 batters in Friday’s 15-1 loss to East Fairmont at the McDonald’s Classic.

“I thought we had very good discipline at the plate today,” East Fairmont manager Joe Price said. “We put some good swings on the ball. When we had that opportunity, our guys ran the bases extremely well.”

The top of the second was the difference, as the Bees (10-6) scored five runs off five free passes and two hits.

“It was sloppy for us,” Northern skipper Phil Carr said. “We walked 11 guys and you can’t do that. We were throwing some guys that haven’t thrown. We didn’t get a good start out of (Jake) Wampler, which we had the last two times.”

Wampler was charged with six runs (all earned) on three hits and five walks across 1 2/3 innings for Northern.

East Fairmont earned three consecutive free trips to load the bases.

After a fielder’s choice and wild pitch scored two runs, Jackson Waskis (West Liberty commit) sent a 3-0 pitch to right for an RBI knock.

Three batters later, Carter McKnight drove in a pair on a base hit to center.

In the top of the third, East Fairmont added six to its lead.

Case Linn, Brody Bledsoe and River McClain drove in runs off singles while Waskis scored one on a double.

“Depending on what team shows up, that’s the team we like to see that’s aggressive in the box,” Price said. “That attacks those fastballs. Their pitches got behind a little bit too, and that’s tough on them because now they’re straight fastballs, our guy’s are sitting dead red. You can’t defend a walk, I’ve been on the other side of it.”

Linn finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs.

A groundout and wild pitch concluded the scoring in the frame.

“Sometimes when you’re not throwing strikes, your defense kinda relaxes a little bit,” Carr said. “We didn’t have a ton of errors, but we had some mental errors where we didn’t throw the ball to the right base.”

The Huskies (7-3) broke up the shutout in the bottom half on an opposite field knock from Blake Spiker.

East Fairmont added one in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by McClain and two in the fifth off walks from Linn and Waskis.

“It seemed like our guys were selectively aggressive,” Price said. “That’s kinda contradictory, but they were. When they got their pitches, they put them in play. They hit the ball hard, hit them where they weren’t.”

The Bees opened the scoring in the first on a double from McKnight.

Waskis got the win, allowing one run on five hits and a walk with five punchouts.

“He kept our defense in the game,” Price said. “He works quick, changes speeds and locates. So he kept that defense in the game and hats off to Brody Bledsoe at third base. He played lights out. He knocked so many doubles down on the line.”