Home proved very sweet Tuesday night for Polk County.
Winless during a tough three-game road trip to open the season, the Wolverines turned their home opener into their first victory of the season, scoring twice in the bottom of the seventh to hand Pisgah a 6-5 loss.
Daniel Painter’s single to center brought home the winning run as Polk County (1-3) twice rallied from deficits against the Bears (2-2).
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“This is a huge win for us,” said Polk County head coach Ty Stott. “We’ve played some good teams and we’re 0-3 with a chance to go 0-4.
“We always have a few early games at home before we have a road game, but this year we’ve been on the road early. There have been times where we have looked like we may never win a game, then we have a home game and start hitting and get on a roll. That may happen to this team. It feels good to win and beat a good 3A team.”
Trailing 5-4, Polk’s game-winning rally began with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Bryan Dadson singled sharply down the left-field line, then Zach Foy was hit by a pitch. Noah Howell followed with a looping liner into the left-field corner that drove in Dadson and moved Foy to third.
Painter then dropped a base hit just in front of the Pisgah outfield, allowing Foy to race home with the winning run.
Sophomore Tyler Harris started the game on the mound for Polk and pitched well before Pisgah scored three runs with two outs in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of some ball-strike calls that Polk County found objectionable to put runners on base, then stringing together three singles to take a 3-0 lead.
The Wolverines responded with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, all of those also with two outs. Cory Skipper and Foy reached on singles to open the inning, then Holden Owens was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases. Harris was then also hit by a pitch, scoring Skipper, and Foy scored on a wild pitch. J.D. Edwards drew a walk to reload the bases, then Chris Lawrence beat out an infield single to score Owens with the tying run.
Sedrick Pickett followed with a line drive to center to plate Harris and give Polk a 4-3 lead.
Pisgah answered with two runs in the top of the fifth off Avery Edwards, all without a hit, using a hit batter, walk, sacrifice bunt, Polk error and sacrifice fly to take a 5-4 lead.
Painter pitched a perfect seventh, striking out the side, to earn the win.
“Tyler Harris stepped up and showed us he might be our number two pitcher,” Stott said. “He gave us almost four innings, and if we get a couple of calls he probably finishes four innings and possibly with a shutout. Zach Foy came in and pitched great.
“At the end Noah had a big hit for us. He may be our best hitter so far this season. And with the tying run on third, Daniel is the one we wanted up there.”
