PLYMOUTH – It was the final home game of the regular season for the class of 2018 and they went out in style with a 10-3 win over Knox.
Benji Nixon took the win on the mound in his last regular season game at the field that bears his grandfather’s name — along with having three RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base.
Fellow members of the class of 2018 showed up big with Jeremy Drudge clubbing a double, Payton Skirvin driving two home with his first double of the year and Noah Pesak reaching base twice and scoring a run.
“We got a lot of guys in, we got a lot of good swings and you always like to end on a high note,” said Plymouth coach Ryan Wolfe. “Overall we played pretty well.”
Knox gave the Pilgrims a run through four. The Redskins plated a run in the third on starting pitcher Kolin Mann’s sacrifice fly to give them the early lead.
Mann had a great night on the mound striking out six of the nine batters he faced but Nixon was able to drive a 3-2 pitch to right to score two in the third to put the Pilgrims ahead to stay.
“When you get to the sectional everything is heightened and he is their number one and it was good to see their best because in sectional play we’re going to see everybody’s best,” said Wolfe. “To go out on that kind of note being able to put up a couple of runs on a pretty good pitcher is good for us.”
Mann left after the third and three successive Knox pitchers struggled to keep the Pilgrim offense in check with multiple contributors. Skirvin and Cole Filson had two RBI hits in the fourth to break the game open for the Pilgrims who plated six in the inning.
“That’s what we’ve tried to do the last few weeks,” said Wolfe. “We’ve got a lot of guys that we’re comfortable inserting in a lot of parts of the batting order and different parts of the game. There is a lot trust and faith that our guys have in each other and we’ve been pretty successful through out the year.”
The Pilgrims plated two more in the sixth when Drudge’s pop fly in right was misplayed.
The season starts over on Wednesday night at LaPorte as the Pilgrims take on Mishawaka in round one of sectional play at Slicer Field. The game will start around 8 p.m. Plymouth time after the opening 6 p.m. game between the host Slicers and South Bend Clay. WTCA AM/FM will broadcast all Plymouth sectional games.
“We have to forget about everything we’ve done all year but we are right where we want to be,” said Wolfe. “We are playing our best baseball. We have a group of 15 guys that are ready to go to battle with each other.”
•PLYMOUTH 10, KNOX 3
at Bill Nixon Field
Knox 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 3-5-2
Plymouth 0 0 2 6 0 2 x 10-6-2
WP – Benji Nixon. S – Thomas Dolan. LP – Kolin Mann. 2B – Jeremy Drudge (P), Payton Skirvin (P).
