It’s a common early-season sight for high school baseball squads, an evening in which the pitching isn’t sharp, the hitting doesn’t click and nothing, in general, goes according to plan.
Wednesday night proved all that and more for Polk County.
The Wolverines had their two-game winning streak snapped, dropping an 18-4 decision to Chase in a non-conference battle on a rainy evening at Polk County.
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With the Wolverines’ Western Highlands Conference opener against Madison looming, Polk County head coach Ty Stott rested seniors Konner Scruggs and Morgan Groves as well as junior Daniel Painter, all of whom pitched in Monday’s win at East Henderson. The four pitchers that Polk County used on the night combined for 15 walks and nine hit batters.
“Sometimes the pitching is not lined up like it should be,” Stott said. “But this is when you develop pitchers. Non-conference games in the middle of the week are when you give some pitchers a chance.
“This is a typical non-conference game early in the season. You’re going to have one of these every season, a night that you’re going to get beat 18-4.”
Trailing 5-0 after the Trojans’ first at-bat, Polk County scored twice in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Groves and Dequan Gary’s infield grounder. Chase upped the lead to 8-2 before Polk County added two more runs in the fifth on singles by Painter, Bryce Martin and Mark Mazzilli.
Chase added a run in the top of the sixth, then scored nine times in a marathon top of the seventh to put the game out of reach.
Martin and Mazzilli each had two hits to lead Polk County, which is hoping to play Madison on Thursday to beat Friday’s scheduled inclement weather. A final decision on that will be made Thursday morning.
