New Palestine High School

The New Palestine baseball team got an outstanding pitching performance Tuesday, then used strong situational baseball to beat visiting Mt. Vernon 4-3 in eight innings at NPHS. The walk-off win came courtesy of pinch-runner Trase Quillen, who dashed home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth. Kingston Hedges led off the inning with a base hit up the middle. Quillen came in to pinch-run and immediately stole second and moved to third on Liam Atkinson's groundout to the left side. With Jesse Isaacs at the plate and the infield in, an 0-1 pitch skipped to the backstop, allowing the speedy Quillen to come home with the winning run. The game began as a pitcher's duel between the Dragons' Rigg Mahurin and MV's Andrew Boldt. Both pitched around two baserunners in the opening frame and then settled in. The Dragons took a lead in the fourth when Jackson Kamp blasted a 1-2 pitch over the leftfield fence for a leadoff homer. The Dragons would further threaten in the frame, drawing two walks, but stranded both runners. MV quickly answered in the top of the fifth. A leadoff walk and two singles - interspersed with two outs - loaded the bags, where a bases-clearing triple put MV up 3-1. After a walk, MV had runners on the corners and tried a double-steal of home, but the Dragons erased the runner. The Marauders' lead wouldn't last long, as the Dragons staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. Jacob Morris doubled and scored on Kamp's RBI single. Hedges singled to right, which was mishandled by the Marauders' rightfielder, allowing Kamp to motor in from first base with the tying run. Mahurin pitched around two walks to keep the game tied in the sixth. Gavin Neal came on for the seventh and retired the side in order. The Dragons tried to manufacture a run in the bottom of the frame, as Mahurin hit a one-out single and was bunted into scoring position by Neal. A strikeout sent the game to extra innings. Neal induced three straight groundouts in the top of the inning, setting the stage for the Dragons to win it at the plate. Neal (1-0) earned the win in relief, pitching two perfect innings with two strikeouts. Mahurin allowed three runs and four hits over six innings, striking out eight. The Dragons outhit MV 8-4. Kamp was 2-for-4 with a homer, two runs and two RBI. Hedges was also 2-for-4. Morris was 2-for-3 with a double and a run. Mahurin and Atkinson had the Dragons' other two hits. The Dragons are now 7-2 on the season and 3-2 in HHC play. They play the rematch Wednesday at Mt. Vernon.