Perkins scores 10 in 6th to win home opener

PERKINS TWP. — Perkins saved its best for last. The Pirates trailed by five runs halfway through the game, but were scoring in every inning. Division IV No. 5 Perkins exploded for 10 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, topping Shelby 17-9 in non-league action Saturday. After four games on the road, including two in Tennessee to start season, it was the home opener for the Pirates (3-2). "We knew we could score runs. We had put runs up," Perkins coach TJ Blanton said. "Our goal was to get our hitting going a little bit. We had a bad inning in the field with a couple errors and they capitalized on it. It felt like every hit they had was finding holes and finding the right spots. Down 9-4, I told them we had to score a couple runs. "There's no five-run hit. We had to get a couple guys on and tack away at it." Down 9-7 going into the bottom of the sixth, Braxden Martin led off with a single. He stole second and scored on Kash Koch's single. That ended the day for reliever Jace Cains as the Whippets (1-4) went to Brady Bowman out of the bullpen. He walked Sam Schweinfurth before a RBI single from Dante Shipp tied the game. Jayden Baingana then walked to load the bases. A wild pitch with Carter Koch at the plate scored Schweinfurth. Before Cains could throw the next pitch, a balk brought in Shipp for an 11-9 advantage. Koch walked and a RBI single by Bryce Davie scored a run. From there, Perkins became super patient at the plate. A balk scored Koch before Blake Parker walked. Martin then walked, ending Bowman's day on the mound. Reliever Casyn Koch came in and walked the first five batters he faced, bringing in multiple runs, including RBI bases-loaded walks to Shipp and Baingana. "We had to add some runs here and there," Blanton said. "We finally broke out. These non-conference games, you kind of run out of pitching and that seemed like what happened with them. We knew if we could get into their bullpen, we could take advantage of it." In total, Perkins drew 17 walks on the day, seeing 185 pitches in six innings of batting. "We just needed runners," Blanton said. "When we got close and a hit could tie the game, then we wanted to be more aggressive. When we're down big, you have to add a couple runs. You need baserunners. We had to be patient, get on base and work our way around the bases." Perkins manufactured some runs early. In the first inning, Parker walked, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on Walton's sacrifice fly. After Shelby tied the game in the top of the second, the Pirates scored twice in the bottom half of the inning. Shipp walked, went to second on a wild pitch and kept trucking to third on a bad throw from the catcher. He scored on Quentin Binette's groundout. Carter Koch walked, Davie singled and Koch scored when Martin roped an RBI single. Things went well for Martin on the mound early on. He retired Shelby in order in the first inning and worked around a two-out error in the third. It was not as simple in the fourth inning. The Whippets send 14 batters to the plate, teeing off on Martin. Brody Gray had a run-scoring single before Quinton Albert cleared the bases with a three-run double. Kaleb Stairs and Travis Slone smacked RBI singles to end Martin's day. Mason Souter came in and got the second out of the inning, giving Walton some time to warm up in the bullpen. Walton got the final out of the fourth inning, but Perkins trailed 9-4. "We wanted Braxden to stretch it a little, but we knew we had Talon to pitch if needed," Blanton said. "He had to get some innings in after not pitching for a week. We want to limit those guys, but want to get them on the mound so they stay fresh and ready to go." The Pirates chipped away at the deficit from there. They got two runs in the fourth inning as Parker walked, went all the way to third on a failed pick-off attempt and scored on a dropped third strike throw to first. Walton then walked, Kash Koch singled and Perkins executed a double steal with Walton scoring. Kash Koch finished with two singles, a double, two runs batted in and two runs scored. "Today the ball looked a lot bigger," Koch said. "It's nice when you have that feeling. When I had runners on, I knew I just had to do my job and shorten up and put it in play. It ended up working out." Walton allowed two hits in 3 1/3 innings of relief. He struck out six. "I was throwing some strikes knowing my team was behind me," he said. "They were going to make some plays. It went pretty well from there." The Pirates host Willard on Tuesday before massive league games against Bellevue on Wednesday and Norwalk on Friday. "It's going to be nice to practice finally," Walton said. "It's been awhile since we've gotten a true practice out here. It's going to feel good to get our bats going and get some glove work in. Hopefully we'll be at our best going into these SBC games." There's no hiding the significance of games against Bellevue and Norwalk. "It's a big week, but every week is a big week," Blanton said. "I think our hitting is coming around. Early in the season, pitching is usually ahead of the hitting. We're starting to turn that corner, which is good to see. "I think last year, it took us awhile. Once we got clicking on all cylinders, it was good." Shelby 010 800 0 — 9 9 3 Perkins 121 21(10) x — 17 10 4 WP: Walton. LP: Bowman. 2B: (S) Albert 2; (P) K. Koch