PLYMOUTH – You knew what kind of a day it’s going to be when the lead off man gets on base and three pitches later you’re out of the inning.
It was that kind of day for Elkhart Memorial in an 8-3 loss at Plymouth to open NLC play at Bill Nixon Field.
Dylan Rost got on base on an error on the first pitch of the game, was doubled off first on a line drive double play to Ezra Winkle on the second and Landon Lee hit a 1-0 fly to left and Plymouth’s Tim Tremaine was out of the first inning on four pitches.
“They (Elkhart Memorial) had to be thinking ‘is this the kind of day it’s going to be?’” said Plymouth head coach Ryan Wolfe. “That’s the kind of pitcher Timmy (Tremaine) is. He pounds the strike zone. I think he got the first hitter in every inning out after that until the seventh. He works at a pace that our guys are engaged in the game. They expect the ball to be hit early in the count because he pounds the zone with strikes.”
Tremaine – mixing his fastball and curve with an outstanding change up had Memorial off balance at the plate for most of the night.
“We threw that (change up) a lot, ahead in counts and behind in counts, he can really throw it at any point,” said Wolfe. “He has confidence in three pitches that he can throw in any count and that’s what makes him effective.”
Tremaine seemed to get stronger as the game went on.
Memorial grabbed a 2-1 lead in the third when Zack Rohm singled, Dylan Rost doubled and Landon Lee singled them both home – Memorial’s first three hits of the game. Tremaine gave up just one more hit, struck out the side in the fifth and until the seventh inning lead off double by Bryce Blondell got the Chargers in order from the fourth on.
Also pleasant for the Pilgrims to see was a pair of two out hits for RBIs, something the offense hasn’t done yet this season in spite of averaging 11 runs a game. Jacob Deacon had a two out RBI single in the fourth and the big blow was by Thomas Dolan in the fifth.
“In the fifth they’re still in the ball game and they get two quick outs and then Matt (Dobuck) gets hit (by a pitch), Jackson (Lee) gets on and Tommy (Dolan) comes up with a big double there with two strikes and two outs,” said Wolfe. “Then (Grant) Dexter comes through with a hit to drive Tommy home. It’s not how many hits you get but when you get them and you have to score when you have those opportunities.”
It was all Tremaine would need as the Pilgrims took the win. Plymouth’s experience was a big factor against the young but talented Memorial lineup.
“We have a lot of guys with experience who’ve played a lot of conference games and I think that shows,” said Wolfe. “We were conference champs a year ago, a lot of those guys are back on the team and it was just a great game for us.”
Plymouth moves to 5-1 on the year with the first NLC win of the new season, and will take on Concord at home on Wednesday. Memorial is now 3-3.
•PLYMOUTH 8, ELK. MEM. 3
at Bill Nixon Field
E. Mem. 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 3-5-2
Plymouth 1 0 2 2 3 0 x. 8-7-2
WP – Tremaine (2-0). LP – Pressler (0-1). 2B – Rost (EM), Blondell (EM), Dolan (P).
