Zach McLean
After jumping out to an early 5-0 lead against Shelbyville Monday night, Columbus North all of a sudden found itself with only a 6-4 lead after four innings.
The Bull Dogs regrouped. They scored four runs in the fifth and added two more in the sixth to pull away for a 13-4 baseball victory.
“We just talked about making sure that we kept doing our job,” North coach Mike Bodart said. “It seemed like we gave them four runs. But we got out of those innings and came back and held them off and put some more runs up on the board.”
The Bull Dogs (10-7) got on the board with three runs in the first inning. Connor Hensley had an RBI-double, and Kyler Hashman had an RBI-single in the inning.
North added two more in the second on an RBI-single by Blake Osbourne and a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Rayburn. After the Golden Bears (9-8) plated two runs in the top of the third, the Bull Dogs took advantage of three Shelbyville errors to get one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning.
The Golden Bears scored two more in the fourth to cut the lead to 6-4. But Zach McLean pitched out of a second-and-third, one-out jam to escape any further damage.
“I’m real pleased with how Zach pitched,” Bodart said. “There were a couple innings in there where he got in a rush and hurried too much. We want them to stay nice and calm and relaxed and go at their pace.”
In the fifth, Dillon James led off with a double and scored on an error. Hensley and McLean had RBI-singles, and Trenton McCain delivered an RBI-double in the inning.
North capped the scoring in the sixth when it scored a pair of runs on wild pitches.
McLean finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs, and Luke Harmon went 3 for 4 for the Bull Dogs. Hensley went 2 for 4 with two RBIs.
McLean allowed six hits over six innings. Joey Fry came on and allowed two hits in a scoreless seventh.
“I think our team did really good hitting, and I did good when I didn’t rush,” McLean said. “I think this is the best game I’ve had this year pitching-wise. I felt when we were able to execute bunts and get people on base, we were really productive.”
North now has won seven of its past nine games following a 3-5 start.
“We’re pleased with how we’re progressing,” Bodart said. “We’re not going to take any days off. We’re just going to keep on working hard. We’re working on certain things, and the guys are real receptive to that, and you can’t ask for anything more than that.”
