Truckers shut out Pirates

NORWALK — Just seven days earlier, it seemed over. The Norwalk baseball team had been kept off the scoreboard, 6-0, in an SBC Lake Division loss at Perkins on April 20. At the time, the Truckers were staring at two-game deficit in the league standings. But after another strong outing from left-hander Buddy Baker, the Truckers find themselves almost in position to control their own destiny. The Truckers turned the tables on the Pirates with a 5-0 shutout win on Wednesday at Norwalk High School. With the win, Norwalk is 9-4 overall and 5-3 in the SBC Lake, while the Pirates — ranked No. 14 in this week's Division II state coaches poll — fell to 10-3, 6-3. Baker needed just 86 pitches (56 strikes) for his complete-game shutout. He scattered four singles with three strikeouts and one walk. "He's a unique pitcher, plus he has an incredible move to first, and it puts our best defense in the field," Norwalk coach Wes Douglas said. "It's been a good formula. That makes him 8-2 over the last two years." The biggest play of the game may have come on a ball that didn't leave the infield. After Caleb Sommers walked and Ian Minor singled for runners at the corners with one out against Perkins starter Ryan Butler, Sam Battles put a sacrifice bunt down to first base, which allowed Sommers to score. After being blanked by the Pirates seven days earlier, the Truckers were on the board with an early 1-0 lead. Still 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Battles and Bray Malson put together back-to-back singles. Ben Rothhaar then delivered with an RBI single to right, and with two outs, Baker helped his cause with an RBI single to center for a 3-0 lead. Braylon Collier singled twice, while Nolan Thomas and Luke Walton each had a base hit for the Pirates. Butler allowed the five runs (four earned) on seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks in five innings. "He got ahead in the counts, and we hit a couple balls hard, but didn't string any hits together to really do anything," Perkins coach TJ Blanton said of Baker. "He kept us off balance, and we didn't take a good approach those first three innings. "By the time we started hitting the ball a little bit, it was too late." Zach Rickard pitched a scoreless seventh for Perkins, which now finds itself in win-out mode like the Truckers. "We controlled our own destiny and now we no longer do," Blanton said. "Now we have to hope other things happen, but you never want to rely on other teams. You want to take care of it yourself, and tonight we didn't do that. "We're definitely not out of it as far as who we play, but you like to control your own destiny — and right now we don't. We just have to go out and win games. That has to be our approach from here on out." Perkins 000 000 0 — 0 4 0Norwalk 100 310 x — 5 7 2 WP: Baker; LP: Butler 3B: (N) Sommers