Maybe not a perfect night, but Polk County displayed enough elements of a winning baseball team Friday night to put a smile on the face of head coach Ty Stott.
Solid at the plate at the top of the order and solid pitching, the Wolverines built an early 4-0 lead and went on to defeat Mitchell 7-4 in a Western Highlands Conference matchup at Polk.
Picking up its second straight win, Polk County (3-5, 2-1) also kept itself in the thick of the conference race and continued to show signs of rounding into a team that will remain in that race all season.
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“I thought we played a pretty good game,” Stott said. “It was a good win.
“It kind of had that 12-1 feel to it, but it was 7-3, and then it was 7-4. Luckily when it was 7-4 we only had two outs to get.”
The first four hitters in the Wolverines’ lineup were a combined 7-for-15 in the game and scored all seven runs, and that group provided the early spark for Polk.
Bryce Martin led off the bottom of the first with a bloop double down the right-field line. J.D. Edwards drew a walk, and Mark Mazzilli followed with a sharp single to left to drive home Martin.
Wes Brady then launched a three-run homer over the left-center field fence, giving Polk a 4-0 edge before the team even made its first out.
Mazzilli and Brady also drove in runs in Polk County’s three-run fourth inning, as Martin beat out an infield single, Edwards reached on an error, Mazzilli singled sharply off a diving second baseman and Brady hammered a double to deep left field. Morgan Groves’ groundout brought home the final run.
“Definitely the big hits early in the game gave us enough cushion,” Stott said. “Bryce had three hits, Mark had a couple of hits and Wes had a home run and a double. That’s what we need Wes to do. He hit that home run off a curve, too.”
The top-of-the-order offense supported a good pitching night for Polk. Starter Daniel Painter went four innings, scattering four hits and striking out five, but left the game after the fourth after throwing 88 pitches. Groves came in and earned the save, pitching three innings of relief.
“Daniel had to come out after four with a high pitch count. He ran the count full a lot of times. but Morgan was able to come back on short rest (after winning Wednesday’s game) to get the three-inning save,” Stott said.
“We came out on fire, and we got enough of a lead. The four runs were good for the whole game,not enough to win it, but enough to tie it. We’ve got to do a little bit tacking on some runs. We got up 4-0 and they come back to make it 4-3. We’ve got to do better tacking on runs and not leave it so close.
“Two and one in conference and only a game back and haven’t even played everybody yet, so feeling pretty good.”
Mitchell earned a 9-6 win in the junior varsity game.
Polk County is back in action on Monday, hosting Avery County, with junior varsity play beginning at 4 p.m. and the varsity to follow.
