By Rusty Nixon
Correspondent
PLYMOUTH – It was a clinic in survival as Plymouth’s Pilgrims overcame some strange plays and some rough breaks as they came away with a 7-2 NLC win over Warsaw at Bill Nixon Field on Tuesday.
“It wasn’t one of our better nights overall,” said Plymouth coach Ryan Wolfe. “We came up with some big plays and (Dave) Bacon’s catch there in the fifth inning was a big one. It was one of those nights when you have to scratch and claw and we did that and came out with a win.”
Jumping to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning once again on starting pitcher Braydon Davidson’s sacrifice fly, Warsaw took advantage of a lead off walk in the fourth to Ethyn Bradley to plate two off Davidson to take the lead.
The Plymouth starter struggled with his control throughout the game, falling behind hitters frequently but making big pitch after big pitch to escape damage. He was also the recipient of some solid defensive play from his team mates – none bigger than a two out running back handed catch from left fielder David Bacon in the sixth with Tiger runners on first and third that preserved a tie.
“You aren’t’ going to feel 100 percent every night,” said Wolfe of his starting pitcher performance. “You aren’t going to have your best stuff every night and you have to battle through it and that’s what he did. I’ll go back and look through it but he probably got ahead of 15 percent of his hitters all night. He wasn’t ahead very much but he made pitches when he needed to and our defense stepped up and made some plays when they needed to.”
Meanwhile Warsaw starter Zach Witt had Plymouth hitters off balance mixing his fast ball with off speed pitches to keep the Pilgrims off balance. Plymouth catcher Elijah Nixon had a big two out double in the fifth that turned into the tying run on Caleb Mikesell’s single and a Warsaw error. George Stults doubled home the lead run in the sixth and Nixon then doubled home the an insurance run in the sixth after Joe Smith led off the inning with a single. Plymouth plated three more in the inning.
“I thought their guy did a great job of keeping us off balance early,” said Wolfe. “We made some adjustments and worked to right field later. We made some adjustments and learned some things and got a ‘W’ tonight. Nixon had a great night, he had a couple of big doubles for us.”
George Stults was 3 for 4 with an RBI. Cam Eveland had a pair of hits and an RBI for the Pilgrims 11 hit attack. Bailey Clark came on to toss a perfect seventh to save the win for Davidson his second in the past week.
The win is the second straight in the NLC for the Pilgrims (9-9) who have a rough week with games tonight against Goshen at Bill Nixon Field and then hit the road for a make up game at Concord on Thursday and a game at Wawasee on Friday.7-
Linescore
Warsaw 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2-6-3
Plymouth 1 0 0 1 1 4 x 7-11-0
WP – Davidson (2-3). LP – Witt (2-1). 2B – Nixon 2 (P), Stults (P).
