New Palestine High School

The New Palestine baseball team built two five-run leads Saturday morning against Franklin Central. The Dragons made the second one stand up, scoring five times in the ninth inning to beat the Flashes 11-6 in extra innings. With the game tied 6-6 going into extra innings after FC scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth, neither team scored in the eighth. The Dragons stranded a leadoff single, while pitcher Nolan Cox retired the Flashes in order. In the ninth, Jacob Morris led off with a hit. His pinch-runner, Brayden Marrow, went to second on Adam Rickey's sacrifice bunt and scored the go-ahead run on Cox's single to right. Wyatt Mathies and Nick Deering followed with singles to load the bases. Blaine Nunnally plated a run with a fielder's choice, as Cox beat the throw home on a grounder. Ben Morwick then followed with a bases-clearing double. In the bottom of the inning, Cox pitched around an error to retire the last three Flashes he faced to end the game. Cox earned the win with 3 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings. He struck out four. Wes Stiller had a stellar start, allowing one run and three hits over five innings, fanning eight. Stiller also homered in the first to give the Dragons an early lead. An RBI single by Mathies and a sacrifice fly by Deering made it 3-0 in the second. FC scored its lone run in the fifth, but the Dragons answered by drawing two walks in the sixth. One came home on an error, the second scored on Ben Hirschy's single. Morris followed with a run-scoring triple to put NP up 6-1 before the Flashes plated five runs on a walk, three singles and two errors to tie the game. The Dragons outhit FC 13-6. Morris led the offense, going 4-for-5 with a triple, a run and an RBI. Mathies was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Nunnally was 1-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Morwick was 1-for-5 with three RBI. Stiller was 1-for-5 with a solo homer and two runs scored. Hirschy was 1-for-4 with an RBI. Michael Thorpe was 1-for-3 with a run. Cox was 1-for-2 with a run and an RBI. Deering was 1-for-2 with two runs and an RBI. The Dragons improved to 7-5 with the victory. They next play Monday at home against Knightstown.