Baseball: Pitching, defense, Buirley homer help undefeated Big Walnut by Westerville North
Monday, April 22, 2024
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Big Walnut starter Carson Stanford combined with teammates Brody Harvey and Brady Taylor to pitch a shutout against visiting Westerville North April 22. Photo: Kevin Rouch
Mike Stafford has a pretty simple formula for winning games. It’s pitching, defense and then some timely hitting.
It took all three of those things working together to help the Big Walnut baseball team stay undefeated with a 4-0 win over Westerville North in an OCC-Capital Division game on April 22 in Sunbury.
“That’s kind of our identity … in that order,” Stafford said. “And I think that’s a recipe for success. (Our) guys have done a good job of buying into the system. When I got here – we worked on a lot of defense and throwing strikes and repeating our delivery (on the mound). Then, a lot of small ball situational hitting. These guys have bought in and I feel like that’s a recipe for success.”
Carson Stanford, Brody Harvey and Brady Taylor combined for the shutout, holding the Warriors to seven hits and a pair of walks.
Stanford allowed six hits and a walk over the first 4 1/3 innings. He was helped by the second part of Stafford’s formula … defense.
After an Evan Pate one-out double in the third inning, Taylor made a diving stop on a sharp grounder at third base and made the throw for the second out. Then, Jax Lawrence made a leaping grab on a liner and the Golden Eagles (14-0, 9-0) escaped the threat.
Big Walnut’s Nolan Buirley is greeted at the plate after hitting a two-run homer against Westerville North at Big Walnut April 22. Photo: Kevin Rouch
With a runner on second and one out, Jake Neff just missed catching a Ricky Scarci liner in right-center field in the fourth inning.
But Neff recovered and started a relay to Evan Couser at first who fired to Taylor for a double play at third.
“I told those guys (after the game) those are big plays,” Stafford said. “When you play good teams, you need to take advantage of those plays and have your head up ready for the next play. We did a good job of that.”
It was the second time the Warriors (9-5, 5-4) had a runner thrown out on the base paths.
“We know we want to play aggressive and we know that’s going to happen sometimes,” North coach Sean Ring said. “I think there’s some approach stuff that some of our young players can learn from as far as how the game unfolded and we’ll keep working on that. But I’m very pleased with them (overall).”
Freshman Nolan Buirley provided the timely hitting in a big way – hitting a two-run home run to left-center in the fifth inning to break the scoreless tie.
After getting on with a single, Big Walnut’s Jax Lawrence dives back into first base safely on a pickoff attempt by Westerville North at Big Walnut April 22. Photo: Kevin Rouch
Lawrence, who led the Eagles with two hits, led off the inning with a single.
“It was 3-2 and I took a pretty hack at it, and it went over (the wall),” Buirley said. “It was a fast ball (and) it was a little up. We’ve been doing a lot of the fundamental stuff. We’ve been working on bunting a lot and all of our defensive plays – practicing over and over again. It’s been working out.”
Adam Wilhelm hit a two-run single in the seventh inning to give Big Walnut some insurance.
Austin Heminger had two hits and two stolen bases and Ethan Saxton tossed a complete game, allowing seven hits, two hit batters and a walk with six strikeouts for the Warriors.
“It was just good baseball,” Ring said. “I thought the pitching was great, the defense was great – they made some fantastic plays out there. Our guy (Saxton) threw very efficiently. There’s not a whole lot to be disappointed in. We had about three or four innings where we had guys in scoring position, and we just didn’t get the hit.”
Westerville North catcher Dane Blackstone gets the out at the plate during the Warriors’ game at Big Walnut April 22. Photo: Kevin Rouch