BASEBALL SHOWCASE: Rudy outduels Northern as Bulldogs beat Jeff in BNL Sectional 1-0

By KEVIN HARRIS

kevinharris1972@gmail.com

BEDFORD – For the second year in a row, archrivals Jeffersonville and New Albany squared off in an intense sectional pitchers duel on May 25 in the first round of the Class 4A Bedford North Lawrence Sectional.

And for the second season in a row, the final result was the same, much to the Red Devils’ chagrin.

Bulldog junior starter Chase Rudy outdueled Jeff senior starter Cam Northern to lead New Albany to a 1-0 at Stars Field. Last year, the Bulldogs edged the Red Devils by the same score in the Class 4A Floyd Central Sectional title game.

“As well as Chase pitched, you’ve got to give Cam just as much credit because he was just as sharp,” New Albany head coach Chris McIntyre said. “When the opposing pitcher is on as much as he was, you’ve got to have a couple of breaks.”

Rudy picked the perfect time to earn his first win of the season.

The right-hander pitched a four-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts and no walks, improving his record to 1-4. Eight of the first nine Red Devils that Rudy got out were on strikes. Rudy also benefited from an errorless performance by the Bulldog defense.

“When you are in a game like this, you can’t make any defensive mistakes – that’s for sure,” McIntyre said.

Rudy put on a clinic of mixing his fastball with his curveball.

“It was very big. I kept them off-balanced,” Rudy said. “I’d throw a first-pitch curveball and then come back with a fastball. Then you come back with a fastball and then with a curveball to get them out. Coach Mac told me that he would like me to keep the ball inside on the hitters that like to pull the ball. I did a good job of keeping the ball down.”

McIntyre thought Rudy did an efficient job of keeping the ball low in the strike zone.

“When Chase has trouble and he elevates the ball, he gets hit,” the veteran New Albany manager said. “He has a tendency to elevate it and when he does that, he gets hit. But he kept the ball down. He was throwing 2-0, 3-1 breaking balls for strikes. Any pitcher at any level that’s able to do that is going to have a pretty good day.”

Northern went the distance for Jeff (15-9) as his record fell to 4-3. The right-hander gave up one run (unearned) on three hits. Northern, who will be a walk-on quarterback on the Purdue University football team this coming season, recorded seven strikeouts and no walks.

Red Devil head coach Derek Ellis felt it was going to be another low-scoring battle with the rival Bulldogs because both Northern and Rudy were both pitching well lately.

“That’s exactly what you kind of figured was going to happen when you come into a game like this,” Ellis said. “We kind of knew they were going to throw Rudy, and we were going to throw Cameron. Cameron was throwing great. Rudy pitched a heck of a game.”

New Albany (17-9) got the run it needed in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Bulldog senior shortstop Logan Charbonneau led off the frame with an infield single. He then advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Cody Medley.

New Albany catcher Christian Sifers hit a grounder to Jeff shortstop Mike Minton. The Red Devil senior decided to throw the ball to third to try get Charbonneau out. But Minton’s toss went past Jeff third baseman Jack Ellis, which allowed Charbonneau to reach third and run to home plate. Minton was filling in for regular starting shortstop Bailey Falkenstein, who was recovering from a concussion he suffered a few weeks ago.

“If there is any chance to score, you’re going to send them and if you get thrown out, you get thrown out,” McIntyre said. “If there was any ball through the infield, we were going.”

Jeff tried to at least tie the game in the top of the seventh. Junior Ethan English launched a deep double to deep center field to lead off the inning.

But Rudy got Jack Ellis to ground out to short, then made Northern fly out to left. The game ended when Rudy struck out Red Devil junior Hunter Schmitz with a curve.

“When you pitch like that on both sides, it comes down to a run here and a run there, execution here and execution there,” Derek Ellis said. “They got the runner over to third and they got him home. You tip your hat to them.”

New Albany junior Ryan Robison went 2-for-3, while English was 2-for-3 for Jeff. The Red Devils said goodbye to six seniors in Northern, Minton, Jacob Cochrum, Nick Grider, Bennie Day and Ian Francisco.

FLOYD CENTRAL 5, SEYMOUR 1

Floyd Central advanced to the semifinals with a 5-1 first-round victory over Seymour.

Highlander starter Alex Lozado pitched six innings in improving his record to 7-1. The junior gave up one run on five hits, striking out four and walking one.

Floyd Central (17-8) broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth. Senior Brayden Edwards smacked a two-run single to give the Highlanders the lead for good at 2-0.

The Owls (15-9) got two hits apiece from Tyler Bloom and Alan Perry.

CLASS 4A BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE SECTIONAL
FIRST ROUND
NEW ALBANY 1, JEFFERSONVILLE 0
Jeff                    000 000 0-0 4 2
New Albany       000 010 x-1 3 0
W - Chase Rudy (1-4). L - Cam Northern (4-3). 2B - Ethan English (J).
Records - New Albany 17-9, Jeff 15-9.

FLOYD CENTRAL 5, SEYMOUR 1

Floyd Central         000 201 2-5 10 2

Seymour                 000 100 0-1   5 1

W – Alex Lozado (7-1). L – Satoshi Hirose (4-6). 2B – Trevor Clark (FC), Lozado (FC). 3B – Aaron Brown (FC).

Records – Floyd Central 17-8, Seymour 15-9.