PLYMOUTH – A return to Bill Nixon Field meant a return to form for Plymouth’s Pilgrims as they banged out 10 hits and didn’t make an error in getting back in the NLC win column 6-2 over visiting Goshen.
The Pilgrims fell behind quickly when Red Hawk designated hitter Salvador Garcia took Plymouth starter Cam Eveland deep, and followed it with a run off of three walks and a wild pitch in the third to jump out 2-0.
Eveland struggling with a little shoulder tightness gave way to reliever Caleb Mikesell who shut the door on Goshen, surrendering just one hit in four and two thirds innings of relief.
“Caleb came in and said ‘Hey, I want the ball,’ and that’s says a lot for a guy who took the ball last Wednesday and took the loss, and he took that hard,” said Plymouth head coach Ryan Wolfe. “That’s big for us. It’s something we haven’t been able to do the last few games is shut the door and close out that win.”
It was a team win after three straight losses that were tough to take.
“It’s better when you win,” said Wolfe with a laugh. “The kids did a good job. We got some hits when we needed some hits, we got some base runners and a big lift from George (Stults) returning to the middle of the lineup. We did a lot of things well and battled.”
Stults returned from a pulled hamstring in a big way with a pair of hits and RBI’s that helped seal the Plymouth victory. Eveland also had a pair of hits and RB I’s and Jeremy Drudge had two hits and added to his team leading RBI count driving home the first Plymouth run with a double in the four run third.
“You may not have all facets of the game working every night,” said Wolfe. “When you have guys that can pick you up at the plate because you’re struggling on the mound or guys making plays that’s what it’s about. That’s team baseball. Our guys have each other’s backs.
“Their guy (Goshen starting pitcher James Patetkau) was a lot like the guy we saw the other night – fastball, change up – and our guys did a good job,” said Wolfe. “We kind of let the first pitch go and tried not to get ourselves out on that good change up.”
The real story of the night was defense as Plymouth players made play after play to end Goshen threats, the biggest a Mikesell to Benji Nixon to Spencer Mae-Croft double play to end the second for Eveland and another in the third when Braydon Davidson snagged a Garcia line drive and doubled up Paetkau who strayed too far off first.
“We were fortunate to have kids in the right spot and got a couple of big double plays there,” said Wolfe. “Our pitchers maybe didn’t have our best stuff – we had nine walks – and we had big defensive plays to get out of those innings and that’s what you have to have. The pitchers knowing the defense has their back is just big.”
Plymouth is not 6-4 and 2-2 in NLC play with a game Wednesday at Wawasee. Goshen moves to 5-7.
Linescore
Goshen 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2-3-0
Plymouth 0 0 4 0 2 0 x 6-10-0
WP – Caleb Mikesell. LP – James Paetkau (1-3). HR – Garcia (G). 2B – Detwiler (G), Mikesell (P), Stults (P).
