New Palestine High School

The New Palestine baseball team had an early surge of offense Wednesday, scoring in each of their first three at-bats en route to a 10-2 victory over Pendleton Heights. The two teams entered the day in a four-way tie for first place in the Hoosier Heritage Conference. The Dragons improved to 16-3 overall and 8-3 in HHC play - a game ahead of 7-4 PH. Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon are both 7-3 ahead of their two-game series against each other, which will commence Thursday. The Dragons and Arabians will conclude their two-game series Thursday at PH. The Dragons were opportunistic, scoring their 10 runs on seven hits, but they took advantage of seven free passes issued by Arabians pitching. Rigg Mahurin (5-1) had a dominant game on the mound, scattering five hits and striking out 10 over six innings, before yielding to Ajay Kropp to pitch a perfect seventh. After allowing four hits in a five-batter stretch in a two-run second for PH, Mahurin retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced, starting the run with six consecutive strikeouts over the second, third and fourth innings. A one-out single in the fourth was the Arabians' only baserunner the remainder of the game. Mahurin hit a batter with two outs in the first, but immediately picked him off to end the threat, then drew a leadoff walk and scored on Jackson Kamp's groundout in the first inning. The Arabians scored twice on four hits in the second, but their lead would be short-lived. The Dragons scored four runs on two hits in the bottom of the inning, putting pressure on the Arabians' defense and taking advantage. Ethan Nunnally led off the second by drawing a four-pitch walk. After a strikeout, Jesse Isaacs lined a single through the hole in right. Eli Whiteside followed with a perfect bunt. As he was beating it out, a rushed throw went past the first baseman, allowing Nunnally to score. Mahurin was the next batter, and he swung at an outside pitch for a third strike, but the pitch eluded the PH catcher and rolled to the backstop. Mahurin scampered to first while Isaacs scored the go-ahead run. Gavin Neal was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jacob Morris drew a bases-loaded walk on four pitches to plate another run, and a wild pitch brought Mahurin home with the fourth run of the frame to make it a 5-2 game. After sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring four times in the second, the Dragons sent nine to the plate and scored five in the third, again doing so on two hits. Liam Atkinson reached on an error to lead off the frame. Isaacs followed with an infield hit and Whiteside was hit by a pitch to load the bases, forcing a pitching change. Mahurin and Neal followed by drawing bases-loaded walks to force in runs. A wild pitch brought home another run, and a sacrifice fly by Kamp made it a 9-2 game. Kingston Hedges followed by roping a single to right to bring home another run. The Dragons did not add any more runs, but they had all the offense they would need. Isaacs led the Dragons' offense from the No. 8 spot in the order, going 3-for-3 with two runs. Whiteside was 1-for-1 with a run. Neal was 1-for-2 with a run and an RBI. Jacob Morris was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Hedges was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Mahurin was 0-for-2 from the leadoff spot, but reached base three times, scored twice and drove in two runs. Kamp was also 0-for-3, but drove in two runs.