Norwin senior Jake Knight found out less than two hours before Thursday’s game that he would be pitching at Hempfield.
He knew he might start the finale of the teams’ Section 2-6A baseball series, but it wasn’t official until he boarded the team bus and found out he’d be taking the mound for his first varsity start.
The nerves had to be intense, the anticipation daunting. He must have had a restless night and ride to the ballpark, right?
“Not really,” Knight said. “I like to rise to the moment.”
The kid with the tailor-made Norwin name was steady going in the rubber game, and junior reliever Chase Butker backed him up effectively in his first bullpen action as Norwin swept the Spartans with a 3-2 victory.
Forget suspense. The new-looking call to arms was ready. Knight and Butker backed a sufficient offensive output by the Knights that included two hits from senior shortstop Tristyn Tavares and a pair of RBIs from senior Derek Berger.
Knight is 1-0 as a starter after going 5 1/3 innings before turning it over to Butker for the final five outs and a save.
“I try to stay confident and not think about too many things out there,” Knight said. “We knew this was going to be a good game. We had to trust ourselves to make plays.”
And Norwin did as it moved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in section going into Easter weekend.
Hempfield (2-5, 0-3), meanwhile, dropped its fourth straight game while leaving 12 on base — it left 31 stranded in the series — and came up empty in two bases-loaded situations.
“That’s Jake’s first varsity start and Chase’s first varsity time,” Norwin coach Craig Spisak said. “When you’re playing Hempfield, you don’t have to say anything to get them ready. They were prepared to go today. Jake is a four-year letterman in football and three-year letterman in baseball.”
Norwin scored first like it had in the previous two games and deflected yet another Spartans’ comeback bid.
Hempfield had enough going on the basepaths to erupt with offense, but it never did.
The Spartans had seven hits to Norwin’s four — all singles — but left the bags full in the first and fourth innings. The Spartans couldn’t score with the bases loaded four times in the series.
“We’re getting down in the first inning and chasing,” Hempfield coach Tim Buzzard said. “It’s another tough one to swallow. We need a deep dive into why we’re not finishing. I need to be better and figure out what I can do. I have a ton of faith in our guys; They’re competing, and we’re getting opportunities. We need faster starts.”
Norwin took a 1-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly by Berger.
After a walk to Knight and senior Trevor Vitsas singled to open the third, Tavares delivered a long double to right to make it 2-0.
Two batters later, Berger knocked in the third run with another sac fly.
An error in the bottom of the third with runners at first and third allowed Hempfield’s first run to score.
But the Spartans left two on in that inning before wasting singles by junior Lucas Simmons and senior Chase Damaska — and senior Ian Kovalcik getting plunked — to leave the bases full in the fourth.
Senior Andrew Jones, who had two hits, singled to start the Spartans’ fifth, and senior Chase Sikorski, who took the loss on the mound, doubled him in to cut it to 3-2.
Norwin went down in order in the sixth, but Hempfield couldn’t score with two on and two outs.
Tavares made a terrific play for the first out of the inning.
“Tristyn bounced back after (an error),” Spisak said. “His biggest critic is himself.”
Jones came on in relief for Hempfield with two outs in the sixth and set down the Knights in order in the seventh, including two via strikeout.
But Butker got a groundout, a strikeout and a flyout to end it for Norwin.
Hempfield took two out of three from the Knights the past two years.
“Credit Norwin,” Buzzard said. “They threw a ton of strikes and got out of some big jams. It’s not easy to get a sweep in 6A.
“We’re not panicking. We’re not that far off. We’re just going to have to figure out what can give us a little edge.”
Norwin will take Friday and Sunday off but plans to practice Saturday before it opens a three-game series 4 p.m. Monday at home against Canon-McMillan (8-0, 3-0).
“It’s nice to get another win, but we have a long way to go,” Spisak said. “It’s one game at a time, one series at a time. We’re getting ready now for Canon-McMillan.”